


Jack O'Sullivan (No 12)

by jackandsamforever



Series: Jack O'Sullivan (No 12) [1]
Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 53,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackandsamforever/pseuds/jackandsamforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liz's future happiness was in April's hands, how could she run away and deny Liz a chance for the child she's wanted for so long? Liz needs Red's help as they go undercover in a cult as a married couple to try and save April's life as well as preserve Liz's dream for a child. And maybe she'll discover some truths she's been denying about Red and her feelings for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfiction. I'm currently working on chapter 9, but decided to touch up the first 3 chapters of this story. My writing has evolved and gotten better (at least I think so) since I started. Please review and let me know what you think. :)

Elizabeth Keen was tired. So tired that she fell asleep at her desk at the Post Office and didn't hear her phone ring the first two times. The third time it rang, she startled awake at the sound and saw that it was Tom calling.  
She mumbled to herself as she tried to clear her sleep fogged brain, “Oh, No I forgot about the Ultrasound.”  
“Tom, I'm so sor..”  
Tom cut her off sounding panicked, “Lizzy, April is gone.”   
April, the young woman who was going to give up her baby so that they could start a family.  
Liz was confused, “What? Tom how..”  
Again he cut her off, “I don't know what happened Lizzy, all I know is that I went to the Doctor's office to meet her there for the ultrasound and she didn't show up. So I tried calling her cell phone, and there was no answer. So then I called her Mom, and she told me that April had left for her appointment over an hour ago, and that if she wasn't there then she has no idea where she is.”  
Liz honestly didn't know how to feel about the news. On one hand she would be devastated if April backed out of their arrangement, but on the other hand she would be somewhat relieved. Ever since Tom had been arrested and accused of murder, their relationship has been strained to say the least. She still didn't know if she could trust him, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to bring a baby into that kind of situation.   
Especially since she worked with Raymond Reddington. It seemed like dangerous criminals found them with ease now that Red was around.   
Her fear for April won out though. So she tried her best to placate Tom.   
“Listen to me, I'm going to try and call her myself. If she doesn't answer, I'll go check some places around her neighborhood that she likes to go to. I'll let you know as soon as I find out any information.”   
Tom didn't answer.  
“Tom, are you there?” She was getting really annoyed with him.  
Finally answering, but sounding weird, he said, “Ok Lizzy, but hurry and let me know the minute you find out anything.”  
She rolled her eyes. It annoyed her to no end when he tried to order her around. She got enough of that at work and from Red.  
Trying not to let her annoyance come through in her voice, but failing somewhat she said, “Ok, Tom, I will.”  
She hung up her phone and immediately dialed April's cell phone. It rang five or six times then went to voicemail. Dammit.   
Frustrated, she picked up her purse and walked out of her office, running into Ressler.  
“Where are you going Keen?” He had that smirk on his face that she loathed so much and wanted to smack it off of his face, but instead she half smiled, “I'm going home to my husband, what's it to you?”  
He could tell something was wrong though and the smirk dropped from his face. “Is everything Ok Liz?  
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she wiped them away in annoyance. “I'm alright, just some trouble at home.” She didn't want to tell him about April. It was too personal.  
He looked sympathetic, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't know her well enough yet to do anything but offer her hollow comfort. “I'm sorry to hear that, let me know if I can do anything to help, Ok?”  
She offered a small smile in thanks and said, “Thanks Ressler, I will. I have to go though.”  
He patted her shoulder, smiled and walked away.   
She didn't understand him. Sometimes he was really nice and sweet to her, and other times he's turning her in to her superiors for mistakes that she had made.  
Her phone rang again and she saw that it said “Nick's Pizza,” she grimaced, she was most likely going to have to ask Reddington for help finding April. She decided to wait though and ignored his call for the moment.  
Getting into her car she drove all through April's neighborhood. Not seeing anything suspicious or out of place. The last place she came to was a park that was mainly used for drug dealing and other nefarious activities.   
She saw a group of young adults all wearing blue T-shirts and handing out fliers. She decided to get out and ask if they had possibly seen April anywhere.  
It was worth a shot.  
She parked her SUV and walked up to the closest young man. He was dressed nicely in tan slacks and dress shoes, and as she got closer she could see that their T-shirts all said “United under Him”.  
She could see tattoos peeking out over his collar and holes in his ears from earrings that were no longer there. She thought the phrase was kind of odd, but figured that they belonged to some kind of church or religious organization.   
He smiled, held out a flyer, and said “Hi, would you like to attend one of our seminars about finding yourself through self-help and group support?”  
She took the flyer and said, “I'm actually looking for someone.” His eyes suddenly became nervous. She wondered why.  
“She's around 17, with blonde hair, blue eyes and very pregnant.”   
He still looked really nervous and said, “Yeah...I think so..she..uh..she joined our group last night and left for Colorado about an hour ago. She said she was looking to get away from her abusive boyfriend and needed a fresh start. We don't deny anyone who asks for help.” He smiled proudly.  
She was shocked because she knew April didn't have a boyfriend, let alone an abusive one.  
So she said the next logical thing that came to her mind, “What's in Colorado?”   
His smile faltered and he looked a little nervous. “It's where all of the group lives together and learns to become self-reliant and it's also far enough away that it makes it harder for people to find them if they don't want to be found.”  
She was skeptical, “So you're telling me that she just up and left everyone that loves and cares about her for a cult?”   
His eyes narrowed, “We're not a cult, we're just a group of people who've overcome a lot and want to share it with everyone who is willing to learn. Our Leader, Jack O'Sullivan is a wonderful man who has helped many young and old people find themselves again and to help them live their lives to the fullest.” She could tell he believed in what he was saying.  
Liz decided right then that she needed to somehow get into this group.  
“Where can I meet this “Jack O'Sullivan? She said. ”   
He smiled, “Are you interested in joining our group?”   
She needed to sell her interest convincingly, so she smile and said, “I might be, my husband and I are looking for a change. Can I take a flyer and get back to you about joining? You do accept married couples right?” She hoped she sounded interested enough.   
His smile was the biggest yet, “Of course we do! We accept anyone and everyone who is looking to make a change in their lives. Our seminar about the group and the requirements to join is later tonight at 8 at the Marriott on 12th street. I really hope to see you there.”   
He started moving away, but she still needed to ask him about April. “Hey, will I see my friend at the place in Colorado if I decide to join?”   
He hesitated, narrowing his eyes slightly and said, “You might.” He walked away without a backward glance.  
She was intrigued, but extremely worried now about April and what she had gotten herself into. She pulled out her phone and called the one person who might have heard about Jack O'Sullivan.  
“Lizzy, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”   
She rolled her eyes and said the one thing she hated asking him because he knew how much it cost her to ask. “Red, I need your help.”   
Even though she couldn't see his face, she could tell he was smirking as his deep voice came through, “Ah Lizzy, music to my ears. What can I help you with?”   
She sighed, “Have you ever heard of anyone named Jack O'Sullivan?”   
There was silence on the other end.   
“Red?” More silence.   
“Hello?” She heard him clear his throat and said, “Yes, I've heard of him, he's a man who is not to be messed with. In fact he's number twelve on my list. He's known for luring people into traps and killing them.”   
“Shit.”  
She heard rustling on his side, it sounded as though he was reading the paper, which he probably was actually doing, “Lizzie, what's happened?”   
She really didn't want to get into her personal life, but she didn't think anyone else could help her like Reddington could.   
“You know Tom and I were going to adopt a baby from a young woman”, there was impatient huff of annoyance from him, “Of course you do, anyway, she went missing today. I found a group of young people who said that she joined their group and was on her way to Colorado with them. I asked who their leader was and they told me his name was Jack O'Sullivan.”   
“Lizzy, what would you have me do? She's as good as dead if it's the same Jack O'Sullivan I know.” She was angry now, “Red, I need you to be able to identify him when I go in as a recruit and find her.”   
Again there was silence on the other end and then he started speaking. “If you think I'm going to let you go in there alone and without backup you are sorely mistaken.” His voice was deadly.   
She was still pissed and said, “Well, what the hell would you have me to then?! Just let her die? That's not an option Reddington.”   
She heard his dry chuckle and her level of annoyance with him shot up two-fold. “Oh Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy..of course not, I'll simply accompany you as your husband and we can go in together.”   
She did NOT want to do that. “Red, you said you know him, so wouldn't he recognize you right away?”   
Again with the little huff of laughter. I only said I know OF him, I've never met him in person so he would never recognize me.”   
She wanted to argue, but she honestly didn't have a better idea. It would be safer for her if he went in with her anyway.  
“Fine” she said.  
She could practically see his smirk on the other side as he said, “But no FBI backup on this one, we go in alone. If he suspects anything is amiss he'll kill a lot of innocent people without a second thought.” She started to interrupt him, “Red...”, but he cut her off.   
“No Lizzy, there is no negotiation on this. If I do this, we go in alone. I'll protect you.”   
She snorted, he was so damn arrogant. “Fine, but I need to clear it with the FBI first and put together a game plan. They're not going to like that we're going in alone, but I'll try to convince them how dangerous he is.” She continued, “There's a seminar about the group tonight at 8 at the Marriott on 12th, will you meet me there?”  
She could still hear paper rustling on the other side as he said, “Of course, Sweetheart. I'll see you then.”   
Already annoyed with him she said, “Don't call me sweetheart.”   
A bark of laughter came through and she gritted her teeth. “Oh Lizzy, just practicing for later.”   
She rolled her eyes and hung up the phone. Now to go convince her superiors that this was a good plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tonight's episode killed me! Ughhhh..I'm still shipping Red/Lizzie until it comes out of Red's mouth that he's her dad. I still don't think he is, it's way too obvious in a show that is constantly surprising.
> 
> Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, I don't own The Blacklist or any of the characters. But I would like to own James Spader..yum. :)
> 
> *This is another chapter I've gone through and corrected some things in.

The Post Office

"Sir, I promise you this is the only wa-"

Cooper interrupted, "Agent Keen, there's no way you're going to convince me that this is the only way to go about this. She started to shake her head but he cut her off before she could argue,

"I'm going to send Ressler in with you-" That was not going to be a good idea.

"Sir, Red said he wouldn't do it unless we go in alone and I believe he's our best chance at catching this guy and finding April." Internally she didn't feel as confident, but she wasn't going to let her superior know that.

Cooper sighed, "I guess you're right, but I don't like it. I at least want you to have a tracking chip put in your arm and keep a burner phone on you at all times so you can check in." The look on his face was one of anger and annoyance, but Liz didn't know how to make him feel better about the situation, because she didn't feel too sure about it either. The only thing that kept her from backing out was the thought of saving April and her unborn child.

"Thank you, Sir. I'll talk to Red and see if Dembe and Luli can follow us and monitor us from the outside. That way we'll have some kind of backup."

"Yeah, well that doesn't make me feel much better. You're safety is going to be depended on by three criminals, whose agendas we don't really know."

He had a point.

"Sir, maybe Ressler can go with Dembe and Luli, would that make you feel a little better about it?"

She could tell he was going to disagree with her before she had even finished her sentence.

"No, I need him here on another case. You let Red know that if something happens to you, I'll have his head." The anger was back on his face.

"I'm sure he'll take your warning well." She said that with a bit of sarcasm, and he picked up on it immediately.

"Agent Keen, get out of my office before I decided this REALLY isn't a good idea."

Seeing that he was serious, and knowing that if he didn't let her go April was as good as dead, she walked out of his office and pulled out her phone to call Tom.

Tom picked up on the first ring, "Lizzy, what's going on? Did you find her?"

Liz really didn't want to have this conversation because she was going to have to lie to Tom, again. She kept reminding herself that it was important to keep Tom from knowing anything.

"Tom, I didn't find her-"

"What do you mean you didn't find her?" There was worry in his voice and something else she couldn't identify.

"Listen, we think we know where she went, but I'm going to have to go away for a little while in order to find-"

Tom interrupted her, angry now. "There is NO way you are leaving me in the dark about this again Liz! No more secrets and lies."

She was pissed and said, "Tom, I don't have a choice! There is a girl's life at stake, and I'm the only one who can help. You're just going to have to accept it. Especially if you want me to save April's life."

She thought she sounded a little desperate, but she didn't know how else to convey the importance of what she was planning on doing.

There as silence on the other end.

"Tom?"

Tom's voice was quiet and dangerous sounding. "Fine. Go, but don't expect me to wait around not knowing if you're alive or not. I may not be here when you get back."

She didn't know what to say. She was done with constantly trying to keep everyone in her life happy. It was draining. So she said the only thing that came to her mind. "Ok, I hope to see you when I get back then. If not, I hope you find the happiness that I obviously can't give you. I'll be home to pack some things in an hour." Then hung up.

Keen House

Liz walked into a dark and quiet house. She could barely hold in the tears as she walked upstairs to their room and pulled out a suitcase. She couldn't believe that Tom would leave her, but she was determined to find April.

After finishing packing, she pulled out her phone and called Red. He answered sounding jovial.

"Lizzy my Dear, are you ready to-"

Liz cut him off, "Reddington cut the crap, Tom's pissed and I'm not in the mood for your usual sarcasm or jokes."

Red responded in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry, is there anything I can do for you?"

She felt bad for snapping at him, but wasn't going let him know that. "Actually yes. Will you get Dembe and Luli to get together some kind of surveillance system so they can track us from the outside when we go into the compound?

"It's already done Lizzy."

She wasn't surprised. "Ok good, will you come pick me up at my house then? It's probably best we show up together."

"Of course, I'll be there within the hour. And for what it's worth, I hope we find this girl. I hate seeing you so melancholy."

He sounded sincere, but who really knew with him. She tried to muffle her internal anguish but it still came through in her voice as she half sobbed, "Thanks Red, see you soon."

She hung up on him again, obviously in a great deal of pain. He looked at his phone in sympathy and tossed it to Dembe. "Only Elizabeth Keen could get away with hanging up on me so often. Let's get out of here."

"Yes Sir."

Red's Car

"Red, we need to come up with a cover story. I don't think you want to use your real name. He's probably heard of you and that's the last thing we need."

Red huffed a little laugh, "Of course we need to have covers. First things first though, you need to act affectionate towards me-" She looked at him with contempt. "And stop looking at me like you want to kill me." Her face softened.

"I'm Sorry Red, I'm just having a really hard time with everything right now."

"I know sweetheart", he placed his hand on hers and ran his thumb over her knuckles. She didn't pull her hand away, but she move to hold his hand either.

He put his hand back on the wheel and began again, "Anyway, my name is going to be Andrew Thomas and you're going to be Kristen Thomas. I already took the liberty of having fake ID's and passports made. They're in my luggage. We've been married for 7 years and have no children yet. That's a point of contention between us because you would love to have a child, but I feel like I'm too old.

She interrupted, "Red, you're not ol-"

He cut her off, "This is a cover story Lizzy, nothing more. Of course I'm not too old." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh geeze."

"We were married in a beautiful ceremony in Hawaii and have lately been wanting for more in our marriage and that's why we're interested in joining this group because we want to become more self-reliant and closer to Mother Nature."

She sighed, "Sounds good enough I guess." She saw they were almost there and put her forehead on the window and stared out into the night as Red parked the car.

Marriott Convention Center

They got out of the car and started walking towards the Hotel. Red walked closer to her and stopped her with a hand on her elbow.

"Lizzy, are you sure you're up for this? I can get Luli to-"

She didn't want Luli anywhere near April because she trusted her even less than Red.

"Yes, Red. I have to save April and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do it."

She grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers and pulled him after her. He looked surprised at her forwardness but didn't say anything.

They walked hand in hand through the door and came to a stop. Liz's jaw dropped. There had to be at least 100 people there. She was shocked to say the least. She felt Red squeeze her hand and she looked over at him.

He talked out of the side of his mouth quietly, "Lizzy, close your mouth, you're attracting attention."

She shook herself mentally and smiled at him, rather unconvincingly, and mumbled back, "Shut up, Red."

He smiled and pulled his hand away. She turned to ask him what he was doing, when he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She could feel his hot breath in her ear that made her feel things that she desperately denied in her mind as he whispered, "Remember we need to act like a husband and wife would."

He pulled back and kissed her on the cheek, smiled a charming smile, and put his arm around her shoulders and started leading her to the check-in table.

She didn't even have time to respond to his obvious request but went along with him anyway. "Damn him and his infuriating smugness", she thought.

They walked up to the table and were greeted by a rather plain-looking young woman who had premature wrinkles around her eyes and the corners of her mouth. She had obviously been through a lot in her life.

She smiled, "Hi! I'm Amber. Welcome to our seminar. If you would, please sign here", she pointed to a sign up sheet. After they printed their names and the reason they were there, she handed each of them a packet and directed them to sit down wherever they liked.

"I sure hope you two decide to join us, we need more people like you. Strong and confident. We get a lot of people who come from places where they've been beat down and been told they're nothing and have no self-confidence. You guys could really help us."

Liz smiled and said, "I hope we can join too, Andrew and I really need a change in our life." She looked over at Red and patted his cheek.

Red looked amused, "You're right sweetheart, I'm looking forward to that possibility."

Red took her hand and led her to the back of the row of chairs and sat down by a young man who looked to be barely over 20. He had long, greasy black hair that looked like it hadn't been combed that day and bloodshot eyes. Most likely a drug user.

Lizzy leaned over Red and put her hand on his knee, she felt him tense up and just smiled up at him before turning her attention to the young man, "Hello, I'm Kristen and this is my husband Andrew. What's your name?"

He looked over at her and smiled. She was surprised at how much better looking he was when he did so.

"Hey, I'm Shaun. I'm so excited to join this group." He leaned towards them and whispered, "Why are you guys here? You don't look like the kind of people who normally come here." Implying that he had been to a few of these seminars before.

Liz smiled nervously and began to answer, "Well, we're-"

Red cut her off, "We're here because we want to learn to become self-reliant and to just get away from constantly worrying about everyday life. This group is just the thing we've been searching for."

He smirked and Liz rolled her eyes, making sure Shaun didn't see her doing so.

Just as Shaun was about to answer back there was a rumbling towards the front. They turned towards the commotion and saw a tall man with black hair and a thick beard, smiling at the group.  
"Hello everyone. My name's Ben. I'm the second-in-command under Jack. He couldn't make it today", there was a collective groan, "But he's truly sorry he couldn't make it. So you guys get me instead."

He smiled again and it made Liz shiver. There was something off about him that she couldn't place.

Red felt her shiver and put his arm around her and pulled her close. She wanted to resist, but she was so emotionally spent and so damn tired that she leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder. She knew he had a surprised look on his face, but she didn't look up to confirm it.

He started rubbing his hand up and down her arm and whispered, "Are you ok Lizzy?"

That was a loaded question and she didn't feel like explaining so instead she just said, "Shh, Andrew. Listen to Ben."

He sighed, stilled his arm and turned his head to listen to him.

Ben was in the middle of telling everyone what they did at the compound and the reason it was started in the first place.

Apparently there was a $500 dollar sign-up fee per person. Liz was surprised by this, especially since a lot of these people didn't look like they could afford that.

He went on to explain that the reason they required the money was for upkeep of the compound. She felt Red grunt in amusement but didn't comment.

Liz was barely listening, she was so tired. She felt her eyes start to droop and the next thing she felt was being shaken awake by Red.

"Sweetheart, he whispered, wake up. It's time to go sign up to leave." She could hear tenderness in his voice.

She sat up and stretched her back.

She mumbled, "Sorry Red, didn't meant to fall asleep on you. Literally." She smiled over at him and he shrugged.

"It's ok, I don't mind being a pillow for my beautiful wife." She slugged his shoulder.

"Ouch Kris-"

She stood up, Red's hand falling off of where it had been resting on the small of her back.

"Come on Andrew, there's a line forming. We need to move before it gets too long."

She saw that Shaun had already left and was at the front of the line, apparently ready to start anew as soon as possible.

She started walking towards the sign-up line and heard Red walking after her. She sighed. She just wanted to get all this over with and find April.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be them going to the compound. I'll probably have it out within a couple of days if people are still interested after tonight's episode. I don't know if I should keep going or not? Reviews really help..so please review! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the awesome reviews everyone. I can't thank you all enough. I honestly don't know how much interest is left in this story, but I'm having fun writing it, so we'll see what happens. I put the character's thoughts in Italics so it would make it easier to identify.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I would love to own NBC so I could fire the boneheads who decided to preempt next weeks new episode for a clip show about The Voice..oh geeze..no one freaking cares about a clip show. Not even the fans of the show..haha.
> 
> *This is the last chapter that I'm going to go through and correct errors. I feel like this story is in a good place now. Thanks for reading.

They were all signed up to leave and were going to be traveling in 18 passenger vans within the hour. The leaders were confiscating all of the group's cars and keeping them in a "safe" place, but Liz suspected that they sold them off for money fully expecting no one to come back from the compound to reclaim them. Or maybe they didn't allow people to come back. She shivered at the though.

They allowed each new member to bring one suitcase, which was fine with Liz, because that's all she had brought. Of course Red had brought much more.

"I simply can not limit my wardrobe to one suitcase, that's intolerable!"

Liz rolled her eyes and said a little too sweetly, "Honey, please don't make a fuss about this. We agreed to start over with everything and there's no way you're going to be able to dress in a suit everyday at the compound." She smiled at him sarcastically.

Red looked over at her and she could see narrowed eyes through his brown sunglasses.

"Well "honey", I don't have any other clothes, so the suits are simply going to have to do. Now which ones to bring?"

As Red started going through his three suitcases to try and reduce them down to one, Liz walked over to his car and got in. She pulled out her burner phone and dialed Cooper's number. He answered on the first ring in a clipped tone.

"Agent Keen, status report?"

She slumped down in the seat so no one could see her talking on the phone and reported that they were about to leave soon. He warned her to take every precaution possible and that he would be in contact with Dembe and Luli to update him on Red and Liz's progress. She reassured him the best she could and finished the call.

She stuffed the phone in a hidden pocket in her jacket, got out of the car and walked back over to Red, who was finishing packing his one suitcase.

Red was dressed as sharp as usual in a gray suit with a vest and tie.

"He looks really good today", she thought, but immediately squashed those thoughts and wondered what was wrong with her. This was an assignment, nothing more. Liz has always liked how he dressed but she would rather die than admit that to him.

She walked up to him, where a group of four or five people were standing around him, watching him pack. "I guess they have nothing better to do." She put her hand on his shoulder and he looked over at her.

"Are you done Andrew? It's time to go."

He sighed, "I guess, but you know how much I hate going without all my suits" he whined.

She just patted his shoulder, which in hindsight was admittedly not very wifely, but she could only do so much.

Mentally rolling her eyes she said, "Let's get going, I'm ready to get out of here and start our new life." He huffed a sigh, but she could see the humor in his eyes through his sunglasses.

"Ok, Sweetheart, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

They got into the first van they came to.

There were six of them, with over 100 people joining them on the trip, and it was still going to be a tight fit.

They sat down on the first bench in the van and were promptly squished into each other by others sitting down next to them. So much so that she could tell this was going to be a very LONG thirty hour drive to Grand Junction, Colorado.

She sighed and put her head on the glass as she waited for them to leave. Red put his arm around her, leaned down and sarcastically whispered in her ear, "This trip is going to be simply marvelous."

She turned her head and her lips came within of centimeters of his lips. She glanced down then looked back up. She could see his Adam's apple move up and down as he swallowed. He began to move his lips towards her to kiss her and all she could do was stare into his eyes.

At the last second she turned her head and she heard him sigh as he kissed her cheek and moved his arm from around her shoulders.

She looked at him but he wasn't looking at her. He had a mostly unreadable expression on his face but she could see a hint of annoyance in his eyes. She patted his arm by way of apology and settled in for the long trip.

Trying to touch him as little as possible, she pulled out her headphones and turned on her Ipod to listen to the audiobook she had been trying to finish for months.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, thinking about the butterflies in her stomach every time Red got close to her, and feeling guilty about it because of everything that had happened with Tom. "What am I going to do?"

Hour 5

Her book finally finished, she looked over at Red, who looked decidedly uncomfortable. He was trying to respect her wishes of no touching while trying to sleep, keeping his head at an awkward angle. She could tell he wasn't asleep though. She touched his thigh and his head shot up. Blinking at the bright light he looked over at her and quirked an eyebrow.

Deciding to take pity on him she put as much sincerity in her eyes as well as a slight apology and said,

"Andrew, you can put your head on my shoulder, I don't mind."

He looked skeptical, but leaned over and laid his head down on her shoulder. "Thanks sweetheart." She could feel his short, soft hair tickling her cheek, but decided she didn't mind so much and went back to her Ipod to find another book to listen to.

Hour 15

"Why, pray tell, must this stupid compound be in Colorado of all places?" Red whispered.

They were halfway there and going crazy with boredom.

They had already stopped three times for bathroom breaks and to eat, but it wasn't near enough time away from the dreaded vans.

Liz laughed and just shook her head. "I don't know Re-Andrew, but will you please quit whining?" She heard him groan in exasperation and handed him her Ipad.

She looked over after a few minutes and saw that he was pulling up a movie and went back to listening to her book.

Hour 20

Liz decided that Red was right. Why the hell did they have to make their stupid little compound so far away?

She was tired of the damn van, she was tired of constantly fighting off Red's little "husbandly" touches, which amused him to no end.

He currently had his hand on her upper thigh and was running little circles with his thumb. It was driving her crazy because she actually kind of liked it, but she wasn't going to put up with it when no one else was paying attention to them. She put her hand on the hand that was on her thigh and squeezed it as hard as she could. She heard a grunt of pain and smirked.

He looked over at her with amusement in his eyes and she stared back with annoyance.

She let go of his hand and he moved it from her thigh, but not without first giving it a little squeeze and went back to his movie. Just because he knew, just knew it pissed her off.

"Only ten more hours", she mumbled.

Hour 28

It was late afternoon of the next day with only two hours left to go. Blake, the driver of the van, looked into his rear view mirror and smiled. The odd couple in the seat behind him were wrapped around each other as much as possible in such tight quarters, sound asleep. "Age really doesn't matter when someone is right for each other." He sighed. "Only two more hours" he kept chanting to himself.

Grand Junction, Colorado

Liz awoke first to a heavy weight on her and was wondering why her neck and back were hurting so badly.

It took her a second to realize that Red was practically lying his whole body on her. She started moving as much as possible to get him off of her.

He startled awake with a grunt and squinted at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Sleep well?"

He smirked. "Very well, thank you. You?"

"Other than the fact that I can't feel my neck or back, I slept great", she said sarcastically.

He was still half asleep and didn't seem to pick up on her sarcasm.

"Wonderful, wonderful."

She sighed and looked out the window and saw a sign for Grand Junction.

"Looks like we're finally here. Thank you everything that is holy on this green Earth."

He laughed and nodded. "I agree, that was the longest trip of my life; and I've traveled a lot in my days."

She smiled at him and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Are Dembe and Luli following us?"

He turned his head and whispered back, "I would assume so, that was the plan."

She nodded as the van started to slow and saw that they were turning onto a dirt road that looked to go up into the mountains.

They traveled for another forty-five minutes, during which Liz was about ready to strangle the driver. Red put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close and whispered into her ear again, "Lizzy, we're almost there, just calm down and breath in and out."

She huffed in annoyance but tried to do as he said, concentrating on the hand that was running up and down her arm.

As annoying as all his touches were to her because she actually liked most of them, and hated that about herself, this one was making her feel better. So she allowed it and relaxed into his embrace. She put her hand on his knee in thanks.

He promptly covered that hand with his free hand and looked out the window.

The Compound

They slowed to a stop and Liz pulled out of Red's embrace.

She sat up and saw that they were at the front gate of the compound.

"About damn time" she thought.

The vans were greeted by a couple of guards whom looked to be armed. "That's odd", she mumbled. Red heard what she said and nodded. "I think we'll find a lot of odd things going on here" he said quietly.

The guards waved them through and they broke through a thicket of trees and saw the compound for the first time.

It was massive and looked to go on forever with multiple buildings and fields. "Oh Lord, what did we get ourselves into?" she thought.

She could tell Red was thinking the same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it. We're just getting into the good stuff. Please review and let me know if there's still interest. Are there still Lizzington shippers out there? Haha. Oh and can I just say how much I LOVE the music on this show?


	4. Chapter 4

The vans pulled up to a large building and parked in the designated parking spaces at the front. The building looked like it wasn't completely finished yet and it prompted Liz to wonder how long this place has been around.

She was nervously rubbing the scar on her wrist, a habit that she hadn't been able to break despite trying multiple times, and sat staring out at the vast compound. Red grabbed her right hand and pressed something small and round into it. She startled and looked down to see what it was. It was a simple wedding band with three small diamonds embedded into the metal. She looked up at him questioningly and in response he just held up his left hand to show he had a matching one on as well.

"Red", she whispered, but he cut her off leaning close to her ear and whispered back,

"Lizzie, we need everything possible to make it look like we're the happily married couple we're portraying. They might confiscate them from us, but I think it's still necessary.

She agreed, so she just nodded her head and put the ring on her left ring finger; it fit perfectly. She wasn't even going to question how he knew her ring size. Just one more mystery that Raymond Reddington held close to his vest.

The driver turned around and announced to everyone, "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would, please exit the vans and make your way to the front door of that building." He was pointing to the building directly in front of the vans. He looked relieved to be getting rid of them, but there was also some worry in his eyes that Liz wondered about. She didn't have time to think about it though because Red grabbed her hand and started pulling her out the door.

They stepped out into the fading sunlight and Liz shivered. It was freezing cold, and all she had was a thin sweater on. Red picked up the suit jacket that was draped over his arm and held it up for Liz to put her arms in. She complied and pulled it tightly around her. She could smell the light scent of his aftershave, which was something that smelled familiar, but also of something that she couldn't identify. The jacket was helping, but she was still shivering. Red stepped closer to her, put his arms around her and pulled her close. Her arms had a mind of their own and wound their way inside of his unbuttoned vest and she burrowed her face into his neck and told herself it was just to help her get warm. Not because she liked it or anything. She could smell the same scent that was on his suit coat and she decided that she quite liked it. As much as she didn't want to like anything about Red, she couldn't help it. The man was just so damn endearing. He needed to do something to piss her off soon or she might do something that she was sure she would regret in the long run.

After a minute of him just holding her, his arms tight around her with his own head burrowed into her neck, they heard the group start walking towards the building. She was finally starting to warm up so she spoke up into his ear.

"Red, you can let go now. I'm warm." She pulled back as he loosened his grip on her and she smiled at him in thanks.

He smiled his usual cocky grin and said, "Ok, but keep the jacket until you can get a sweatshirt out of your suitcase, if you find that agreeable."

She did of course and instead of replying just starting walking with the group towards the front of the building. He hurried to catch up to her and tried to grab her hand, but the jacket sleeves were so long that he didn't have any luck finding it. She looked over at him in triumph and smirked. He just rolled his eyes and gave up, and instead just walked closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

They were the last to walk through the doors of the building and saw that the others were sitting down in a room that looked like an auditorium with a stage at the front. They made their way to the fifth row and sat down. She was starting to feel too warm, so she took Red's jacket off and handed it to him, smiling in thanks. He took it back with a small smile of his own and draped it over the seat next to him.

This building was obviously a place that the whole compound held their meetings at. The room was huge, easily sitting over 500 people. She wondered how many people actually lived at this place and how they were supposed to accommodate everyone if they kept bringing in 100 people or more at a time. She didn't voice any of these thoughts to Red though because she saw a man step up onto the stage. He looked to be middle-aged, but in great shape. He had blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that she could see even sitting five or six rows from the stage. She felt Red stiffen next to her and gave him a questioning glace.

He looked over at her and she saw something that she didn't think she would ever see in Raymond Reddington's eyes. Fear. She leaned closer to him.

"What is it, honey?"

He quickly closed off his expression and said, "I'll tell you later, sweetheart." She wanted to talk to him about it now, but he shot her a warning glare that clearly said "later".

The man on stage introduced himself. "Hello everyone, my name is Jack O'Sullivan. I'm pleased to see that so many people chose to join us here at this wonderful place. You won't regret you're decision."

She heard Red grunt quietly. She looked over at him again and he just shook his head with a grim look on his face.

She turned back to Jack, who was explaining what was going to happen next. "Each of you are going to have a member of our group assigned to you. They'll get you settled into your sleeping quarters and go over the rules with you and assign you your duties for tomorrow." She heard mumbling among the group and Jack spoke up again, "yes, everyone is expected to work here. That's the only way to earn your keep. We'll try to assign you something that you would be good at, and that you may have experience already doing. This place is huge, and requires a lot of upkeep. So you'll be exhausted at the end of each day, but feel better about yourself in the long run, knowing that you contributed to the upkeep of the land."

Liz groaned internally. This was not going to be fun. She couldn't see Red getting his hands dirty either (literally of course). He didn't seem like someone who's ever done hard labor. Of course, she hadn't either, so she couldn't say much.

Jack continued, "I just wanted to thank you all again for coming here and being willing to make a lifestyle change for the better. I hope to get to know all of you and become friends." He smiled a charming smile and stepped off of the stage. She looked around and could tell he had all of the women in the group eating out of his hands. Not her of course, although she could see the appeal he had and why women seemed to be surrounding him like vultures after he was done speaking. He seemed a little "too" perfect. She reminded herself that this man was on Red's blacklist, and with good reason apparently. Still, he was very alluring.

She felt Red touch her arm and she looked over at him. He was smiling a knowing smile at her, "damn him" she thought, and slapped his arm before standing up.

"Come on Andrew, let's go meet our "handler", it's getting late and I'm exhausted."

"Ok, honey", he said with a hint of sarcasm. He stood up and she threaded her arm through his. He led her over to the table that had the names of all the new members as well as who was going to be in charge of them, next to their names. She found their faux names and saw that they were going to be helped by someone named "Kitty".

She heard Red chuckle as he read the name and said, "why someone would ever name a child "Kitty" is beyond me."

"It's probably not her real name." She sighed, "Come on, let's go find her." With her arm still hanging on at the crook of his elbow, they made their way over to the group of established members waiting for the "newbies" to find them.

They approached the first person they saw and Red said, "we're looking for "Kitty", can you help us?"

The young man smiled and said, "sure, that's her sitting at the table over there." They looked to where he was pointing and saw a portly woman in her late sixties with long gray hair and striking features.

She smiled at the man, "thanks."

"No problem, we're happy to have you here. Welcome to the group."

She smiled again and grabbed Red's arm and they made their way over to where Kitty was sitting.

They approached her and Liz spoke up first before Red could make a giant ass out of himself. "Hi, I'm Kristen, and this is my husband Andrew. We're assigned to you apparently."

Kitty smiled, stood up and hugged both of them at the same time with her huge arms. "I'm so excited to finally meet you guys!" She heard Red grunt as his face was smashed into her ample bosom and smiled to herself. "Oh he was just going to LOVE this woman." She thought.

Kitty pulled back from them and said, "Ok,first things first, let's go get your luggage out of the van."

Red handed her his suit jacket again and helped her into it. She smiled at him again in thanks and she leaned in and kissed his cheek. "All for show, of course." She thought.

They walked to the vans and pulled out their suitcases. Red carried her's for her, since her hands were swallowed up and were pretty useless and they followed Kitty to another building.

Once they were inside she saw that the room they were in was very warm and inviting. Kitty spoke up and said, "Ok, I'm going to go over a few rules with you guys then we'll assign you some beds. Please sit down and we'll get started."

Liz sat down on one of the couches and Red followed suit, sitting as close to her as possible and putting his arm around her shoulders. She sighed. She wasn't going to fight him about the "no touching" rule right now, since Kitty was watching them closely.

"So first things first. The first three nights we split up the married couples and have them sleep in the single dorms."

Red spoke up cutting her off, sounding angry, "Oh no, no no no no. I am simply not sleeping without my wife at my side for that long."

Kitty smiled, "I'm sorry Andrew, it's just a rule that has to be followed. We have our reasons for it that I'm not going to get into at the moment."

Liz placed her hand on Red's upper suit clad thigh and surreptitiously squeezed it. Hoping he understood her signal to let it go. They would have to pick their battles wisely and this wasn't one of them.

Red sighed, apparently understanding her signal and said, "Fine, but I don't like it. I'd like to talk to Mr. O'Sullivan about it eventually."

"That can be arranged in a few days time Andrew." She smiled again and continued her explanation of the rules. "After you go to your separate dorms, your luggage will be searched and anything we deem usable by the community will be confiscated and shared among others." She heard Red groan; she wasn't too happy about it herself, but there wasn't anything they could do about it apparently.

"After your luggage is searched and you've taken a bath you'll be given clothes to sleep in." "A bath?" Oh geeze, she thought.

"Breakfast is at six AM each morning. Kristen, you'll be expected to be there by five to help in the preparation."

Liz spoke up, "Kitty, I'm a terrible co-"

Kitty cut her off and cheerfully said, "they'll find something for you to do, don't worry. After tomorrow we'll find something for you to do that better suits your skills." That made Liz feel a little better, but not much.

"Andrew, we'll find a job for you after breakfast as well. We have a questionnaire that we have each member fill out to find a job that best suits their skill sets."

Red nodded and said "Ok". Liz could tell he was tired, as she was extremely tired herself.

He spoke up tiredly, "Kitty, we're terribly exhausted. Do you think we could get our bed assignments and head off to bed? You can explain any other rules to us tomorrow when we are refreshed and can listen with clear heads."

"Of course my dear! I'm sorry to keep you this late. Kristen why don't you say goodbye to Andrew right now so I can take you to your dorm. I'll call Brad over to take you to your room, Andrew."

Liz stiffened but quickly recovered and said, "of course, could you give us a moment by ourselves?"

"Sure, I'll go outside and call Brad over the radio right now." She walked out of the room.

Liz looked over at Red and smiled a tired smile. She started taking off his suit coat to give back to him, but he reached his hands over and pulled it back tightly around her. His voice, even deeper than normal from exhaustion, surrounded her while he said, "keep it, you'll need it to keep warm on your walk over."

She smiled and said, "thanks Red, I appreciate it." He looked at her intently and put his arms around her and hugged her close. Kissing her cheek, he whispered in her ear, his breath hot against her chilled skin, "keep your eyes open Lizzie. I don't trust anyone and I hate that we have to be separated."

She turned her head and whispered back into his ear, "I'll be fine, you watch out for yourself too. I'll see you tomorrow morning bright and early."

She heard his grunt of agreement, but he seemed content to just hold her for a moment longer. She allowed it because she needed the comfort too.

They heard Kitty come back inside and they broke apart. He kept his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. He leaned in once again to kiss her cheek but she turned her head at the same moment to say something to Kitty and he ended up kissing the corner of her mouth. She looked up at him in annoyance and he just smiled and took his hands off of her shoulders.

She walked over to Kitty and said, "Ok, I'm ready to go."

Just then Brad walked in and motioned for Red to follow him. He walked past Liz, squeezing her shoulder as he did so and said softly, "good night, Sweetheart. See you tomorrow."

She smiled and said, "good night." He walked out into the night with Brad.

She turned to Kitty and said, "Alright, let's go." She walked out with Kitty and headed towards her dorm. She could still make out Red in the darkness and missed him already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Please read and review! I love seeing reviews and it makes me that much more motivated to write more. Let me know what you think. )


	5. Chapter 5

As Liz and Kitty made their way to the dorms, Liz decided that she was going to try to get more information about the goings on at the compound.

"Kitty, how long have you been here?" She was freezing cold and needed something to take her mind off of the fact that she was going to be separated from the one person who she could trust, "Well kind of trust", for an indeterminable amount of time.

Kitty, looking like she wasn't affected by the cold at all, laughed, "Honey, I've been here since the beginning, it's been about five years now."

Liz pulled Red's jacket closer around her as her teeth started chattering. "W-w-wow, f-f-five years huh? I b-b-et you've seen a lot of interesting th-things around here." She looked over to see Kitty's reaction.

Kitty chuckled and said, "You have no idea, Dear, but let's not talk about that." A guarded look appeared on her aged face and Liz decided to try to question her further.

"Wh-why not? I-i-is there so-so-something m-my husband and I sh-sh-should know a-a-about?" Her teeth sounded like snare drums they were clicking together so hard.

"Lord, you're freezing cold! We're about there, come on lets hurry and get you inside."

It didn't escape Liz that Kitty had effectively side-stepped each question that she had asked. Something else was going on here, but it looked like Kitty wasn't someone who she should be asking if she wanted truthful answers.

They made their way inside a large building that sort of reminded Liz of a hotel. There were lots of windows with only a few doors.

Kitty led her to a bathroom off of the main room and said, "You're in luck, we just got our indoor plumbing installed last week. It wasn't fun warming up water for everything by hand", she chuckled. "I want you to go ahead and take a quick bath and I'm going to take your suitcase and go through it and see what you brought. I won't take anything, most likely, but it's a rule that we have to follow."

Liz was exhausted, freezing and tired of arguing about everything so she just nodded her head and gave Kitty a small smile and nodded.

Kitty continued, "Oh, I need the clothes you're wearing now, we have to go through everything. I'll get you some night-clothes to wear to bed as well."

"Shit", Liz thought. She still had the burner phone on her person, and couldn't think of a way for Kitty not to find it. "Well there goes THAT safety precaution down the drain." AD Cooper was not going to be happy, but really, how was she supposed to know that they were going to search all of their belongings?

Kitty walked out of the bathroom, and before she closed the door said, "There's shampoo and soap in that cabinet by the tub. If you would, be a dear and leave your clothes outside of the door and I'll start going through them too."

She heard her walk away and heaved a relieved sigh. She wondered if the same thing was happening to Red and chuckled at the thought of him most likely whining like a petulant child about everything they were making him do.

Feeling a little better she started the water running in the bathtub, took off Red's suit coat and then proceeded to take off the rest of her clothes. She placed them outside the door and hurriedly locked the door behind her. She didn't want someone to walk in on her.

She got in the warm bath and for the first time that day, truly allowed herself to relax for a moment. She had an uneasy feeling about this place, but decided not to think too hard about it since she couldn't bounce any ideas off of Red. She didn't want to think about Red while in the bathtub either.

After about ten minutes she heard a knock and then Kitty's voice through the door, "Dear, are you about done?"

Startled, Liz answered, "Just about, give me five more minutes." She hadn't even washed her hair yet.

"Ok, Honey, your bed-clothes are outside the door and I put everything else into your suitcase. I didn't take anything, so you don't have to worry about that."

Liz was relieved and wondered if Kitty had found the phone. "Ok, thanks Kitty, I'll hurry as fast as I can."

She hear Kitty walk away and looked to her left at the cabinet that held all the soaps and shampoos. Apparently they only had one scent, and it smelled weird. Since she didn't have much choice, she hurriedly washed her hair and body and rinsed off.

The cabinet also held towels so she grabbed one off of the top, dried off and wrapped the towel around her body. She walked over to the door, unlocked it and cracked it open. She couldn't see anyone so she picked up the "night-clothes" and closed the door.

She slipped the night-gown over her head and laughed. It was huge and extremely ugly. She was so glad Red couldn't see her now, because he would surely get a chuckle at the sight of her. Why she cared about what Red would think about her, she didn't know, and didn't want to think about too hard.

She walked out of the bathroom and saw Kitty waiting for her on the couch. She stood up and said, "Wonderful, are you ready to get some sleep?"

Liz yawned and chucked, "How could you tell?"

Kitty smiled and said, "Follow me Dear, your things are already in your room."

Liz followed her to a room on the first floor. They walked in and she saw that it was just a basic room with a single bed, nightstand and a dresser that had a mirror attached. Her suitcase was lying on the bed and Red's coat was draped over the top.

"Everything is pretty self-explanatory. You'll be using the bathroom that you just came out of, and make sure you set your alarm for at least 4:45 AM so you can get to breakfast prep in time. The dining hall is just in the next building over to the right of this one. There's a big sign on the front that says "Dining Hall". If you get lost, just find someone and ask for directions. There's always someone walking around, attending to their morning duties." She smiled a big smile and said, "Have a good night and I hope you sleep well, Kristen, it's been so nice to meet you."

Liz smiled and bade her good night. Kitty walked out, shutting the door behind her.

She heaved a sigh of relief. She was so tired and wanted nothing more than to just crawl into bed and sleep. She was only going to get about six hours of sleep as it was. Deciding to unpack the next day, she set her suitcase on the ground. Realizing that she didn't know if Kitty had found the phone, she picked up her jacket and searched the pockets. It was gone.

"Why didn't she say anything about it?" She mumbled to herself.

Deciding she was too tired to worry about it at the moment she resolved to talk to Red about it later and put it into the back of her mind.

Liz went to hang up Red's coat in the closet, but decided to put it on instead. As much as she hated herself for it, she missed him. He was her only connection to the outside world and it was hard being alone in a new place.

After putting the coat on she crawled into bed, set her alarm and burrowed her face into the jacket. Inhaling his scent, which she decided reminded her of summer rain and thunderstorms (however THAT smelled, she didn't know, but that's just what it reminded her of), she slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Liz awoke to an insistent beeping and shot up, trying to figure out where the hell she was. It all came crashing back down to her in an instant. She shut off the alarm clock and laid back down with a groan. Rubbing her hands over her face, she once again inhaled Red's scent, instantly calming her. She was nervous for what was to come that day, but got up and got dressed into some of her own clothes. She put on the warmest clothes that she had packed and took her bathroom kit out of her suitcase and looked in the mirror. Her hair was a wild mess, as she had forgotten to comb it last night in her exhaustion.

Shrugging, she pulled it back into a ponytail and put on the lightest amount of makeup she could and still be presentable.

Walking out the door of the dorms, she made her way over to the Dining Hall, easily following Kitty's instructions. She walked inside and was promptly greeted by a younger, fair-haired woman. She greeted Liz enthusiastically.

"Hi! You must be Kristen, I'm Sophie. Kitty told us that you would be joining us today."

Liz smiled back and said, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm going to warn you now though, I'm a terrible cook. So you better have me do something that's not too hard if you plan on eating something edible.

Sophie laughed, "Don't worry, we'll have you make the toast. You do know how to do that, right?

Liz chuckled, "I think I can handle that."

Sophie showed Liz where everything was and told her to make around 250 slices. It sounded like it was going to take all morning. She groaned.

After about forty-five minutes of mind-numbing toast making, she felt someone's arms go around her waist from behind as they breathed into her ear, "Good morning, Sweetheart. Sleep well?"

She startled and turned around, "Honey, you scared the hell out of me!"

Red barked a laugh and released her saying, "Sorry, I couldn't resist. How are things going here?"

He looked tired, with even deeper bags than normal under his eyes. But he was handsome as usual, dressed in one of his brown three-piece suits with his sunglasses hanging from his pocket. The man wore a suit well.

"Oh, great", she said sarcastically. "I think they found the most boring job they could and gave it to me."

Red placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her towards him into a hug. She tried to resist him, but he pulled harder. She went into his arms and he whispered into her ear, "I'm doing this so I can talk to you without anyone overhearing. Try to look like you're enjoying yourself."

She nodded, put her arms around his waist and said, "How did things go for you last night?"

Red shrugged and told her what they had him do, which was pretty much what had happened to Liz. He told his tale while holding her tightly against him and rubbing soothing circles on her lower back. She found herself relaxing and letting his deep voice wash over her. It worried her how easy it was for Red to get under her skin but decided to NOT think about that.

She still had about fifty pieces of toast to make, so she pushed Red away from her after he was done talking and said, "I need to finish this before everyone starts showing up. Why don't you go find a place to sit?"

"Ok Lizzy, but can I just tell you how exquisite you look this morning? Absolutely stunning." She could tell he was being completely serious.

Liz blushed and said, "Thanks." She wasn't going to let on how happy his comment made her.

He smirked, leaned down and placed a lingering kiss on her cheek then kissed up to her ear and said, "I'll see you when it's time to eat." Pulling back he turned around and without a second glance walked into the dining hall.

She was flustered and annoyed at the butterflies in her stomach. Why was this man so hard to resist?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews everyone, they really do mean so much to me! I had to stop here because I'm in so much pain. I have Shingles and it's horrible. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Any way, I'm not fishing for sympathy..haha..just wanted to explain why I stopped where I did. Please let me know what you think about this chapter..I love getting reviews. :)


	6. Chapter 6

As Liz finished up making the toast, Sophie walked over to her and told her to go ahead and sit with her husband, and that they could "handle" things without her.

Liz didn't know whether to be offended or relieved so she just nodded and walked out to find Red among the masses.

Standing in the doorway, she decided this was a good time as any to look for April. The tables were set up cafeteria style, with benches instead of chairs. They were the kind of tables that folded up in the middle so they could be moved out-of-the-way when they weren't in use. There were around 300 people or more in the hall and spotting her was probably going to be impossible. She didn't know what she was going to tell April even if she did find her, while also trying convince her not to out her cover story.

She looked around for a minute or so, but didn't see any sign of her. She was frustrated because she realized that they were going to be here for a lot longer than she anticipated. They wouldn't even let her stay in the same room as Red so they could make a game-plan. She still didn't understand the reasoning for that.

She found Red immediately and saw that he had saved a seat for her, walked towards him, and saw that he was deep in conversation with a very pretty brown-haired woman.

The woman was giving off huge "I'm available and I find you very attractive" vibes; batting her eyes, smiling and touching Red's forearm every chance she got. Which annoyed Liz to no end, which also annoyed her that this woman's flirting annoyed her. She could clearly see Red's wedding ring glinting in the light (at least they hadn't taken their rings), and wondered why the woman seemed to not even care that he was a married man. Of course Red was flirting right back, so she wasn't surprised. Damn that man.

Liz had no claim on Red, even if they were pretending to be married, so she had no right to be jealous.

She decided she didn't care and walked up to Red and put her arms around him from behind and kissed his cheek. She then nuzzled her head on his shoulder and said into his ear, but loud enough for the woman to hear.

"Hi, Honey, sorry it took me so long. They were slave drivers in there!" She was being overly dramatic on purpose, which probably made her come off a little ditzy.

She could see Red smirk, because he obviously could tell that she was jealous. He hugged her arms to him for a moment and then released them and turned his face to hers and kissed her full on the lips.

She was so surprised that she didn't have time to react, whether to slap him or kiss him back she didn't know, and he was already introducing her to the woman that he had been talking to.

"Kristen, this absolutely fascinating woman is Jordyn." Jordyn smiled a false smile at her.

"Jordyn this is my lovely wife, Kristen." Liz smiled her biggest smile at her, with a warning in her eyes to stay away from her man. Liz convinced herself that it was all for show, because they couldn't afford for Red to blow their cover.

"Hi Jordyn, I'm so glad my husband's found someone to have an intelligent conversation with. That's why we decided to join so we could find more people like ourselves."

Jordyn looked like she didn't want to have anything to do with Liz, but politeness won out and she gave Liz a small smile and said, "Nice to meet you as well, your husband is such an interesting man. I was thoroughly enjoying our conversation. He was telling me about the time he swam with sharks in Mexico. He's so brave." She grabbed Red's arm again and he didn't seem to be so inclined to remove it from her grasp.

Liz chuckled, "Oh he likes to think he's interesting. Most of the time he's pretty boring." She smirked at Red, who in turn narrowed his eyes in mock annoyance at her.

Liz sat down on Red's right and dug her elbow into his side as hard as she could without attracting the other woman's attention. He grimaced, and moved his arm out from under Jordyn's grasp, finally understanding Liz's signal.

He slid closer to Liz and put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She felt his fingers playing with the hem of her shirt and found it hard to concentrate on anything else. Red knew that he was distracting her, and that he didn't need to be doing what he was doing, but he of course didn't seem to give a shit.

Liz saw Jordyn staring at the arm that was wrapped around her waist and a look of contempt came over her face before she shook her head and turned towards her breakfast. Liz wondered at that look and made a mental note to warn Red about Jordyn's apparent crush on him.

She sighed. Just another complication that needed to be added to a whole list of complications.

They finished their breakfast, bade goodbye to Jordyn who was still sulking and barely smiled a ghost of a smile, and stood up to find Kitty. They were supposed to be filling out a questionnaire to determine what kind of job they would be doing at the compound.

Liz started walking away towards the exit, but Red grabbed her hand and pulled her body flush with his. Liz tried once again to resist, but he had an arm around her back and she couldn't budge.

Red leaned in and spoke in her ear, "Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy did I detect some jealousy with Jordyn? I was just having a compelling discussion with her about m-"  
She cut him off, "Shut up, Red. She's obviously infatuated with you and I was just trying to make sure you didn't blow our cover."

He was quiet for a moment then said, "I only have eyes for you Lizzy. You should know that by now."

She turned to look into his eyes and saw that there was no humor in them. He was serious. She was shocked to say the least. "What the hell does that mean?" She thought.

He had pulled away from her and was almost out the door before she even realized that he wasn't in front of her anymore.

She hurried to catch up to him thinking that this assignment was one big-ass mistake.

She fell in step with him and tried to gauge his mood. He had slipped his sunglasses on, even though the sun was barely up, so she couldn't see his eyes. She looked around to make sure there was no one around and said, "Red, what's going on?"

Red chucked a mirthless laugh. "Nothing, Honey, let's go find that Kitty woman and get our life skills thoroughly deduced by a simple pencil and paper test." So he was mad at her.

She slipped her arm through his and sidled up to him whispering into his ear. "We're so not done having this conversation. I can see you don't want to talk about what happened in there now, but we will talk about it later."

He huffed a laugh, "Fine. I do love it when you get all peppery with me. Not to worry though, we'll have that conversation eventually."

She rolled her eyes but said nothing as they walked arm in arm to the administration building to find Kitty.

A man hid in the shadows of the dining hall. He had heard everything the couple had been talking about. He smirked, thinking, "Oh this was going to be fun. These people have no idea what they're getting themselves into." Laughing quietly, he melted back into the shadows.

Red and Liz walked in the building and were greeted by a short balding man. "Hello, how can I help you?"

Liz spoke up, "Hi, We're looking for Kitty. I guess we're supposed to fill out a questionnaire to determine our work skills?"

He smiled and said, "Oh you don't need Kitty for that. I'll just go get them now for you and you can fill them out. Then we'll go from there."

He walked away to get the paperwork.

Red had moved away from her while she was talking to the small man and was scrutinizing one particular picture that was sitting on the fireplace mantle. He looked sad and a little angry.

He had removed his suit coat and draped it over the back of a chair and was left in just his dress shirt, tie and vest. "Damn does he look good", she thought. She hated herself for thinking thoughts like that, especially when things between her and Tom were so unresolved, but they were happening more and more often.

She walked over to him, resisting the urge to run her hand over his broad dress-shirt clad shoulders, and looked at the picture he had been staring at with such emotion. It was a picture of a woman who looked to be in her thirties. Light brown hair, blue eyes. She was very beautiful. Liz wondered how Red would know someone from here.

She started to ask him about the picture but he looked at her with a look that clearly said "Not now".

She furrowed her brow, but decided to comply with his wishes and made another mental note to ask him about that later as well.

He smiled at her in thanks, grabbed her elbow and dragged her to sit down with him on the couch. His arm was above her shoulders, lying on the back of the couch. She felt his fingers ghosting over the back of her neck. She shivered and moved forward out of his reach. She felt him chuckle in response. He was so infuriating sometimes. Ugh.

The small man walked over to them with two clipboards and pencils. "Here you go. If you would, please answer each question as truthfully as possible so we can find you jobs that best suit your skills. It shouldn't take you any longer than ten minutes or so." He smiled and walked back to his desk.

Liz sighed, she really didn't want to do any kind of job that required hard labor or skilled workmanship. She looked down at the first question, reading it under her breath, "What kind of jobs have you had in the past?" Oh boy, she was going to have to lie through her teeth, and she suspected Red was going to have to as well. There's no way she could say that she worked for the FBI and Red very well couldn't say that he was a career criminal.

After answering all ten questions, and lying about eight of them, she stood up and handed her questionnaire back to the man. He took it and started reading her answers. She stood there awkwardly for another five minutes before he spoke up, "It looks like your best bet is going to be working in the greenhouses. Tending to our plants and harvesting the food that's ready to be eaten."

She groaned internally. That didn't sound like much fun at all, but she suspected that she wouldn't want to do any job that anyone did here.

She did her best to act excited, "Oh, that sounds absolutely perfect! I loved working in my garden at home. My husband says I have a green thumb." Personally she thought she was being a little over the top, but there was no going back now.

He smiled and said, "That's great, we need experienced people working there. I'll call Jay, who's in charge of the greenhouses, and have him come meet you and take you over there and tell you what your duties will be."

She nodded enthusiastically, "I can't wait."

She turned to see Red standing there, clipboard in hand, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes, making sure the man at the desk couldn't see her, and mouthed "just great" at Red.

He huffed a laugh and walked past her to the man, squeezing her hand as he did so, and handed him his clipboard.

Liz walked over to where Red was standing and they stood in silence for a few minutes while the man read over Red's answers.

Red had put his hand on the small of her back and was slowing moving it up and down. She couldn't move without attracting attention, so she stood there thinking about how many different ways she could cut off Red's hand.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the man said, "Andrew, there's a lot of different areas that could use your abilities. Do you have a preference?"

Red smiled his charming smile and said, "I would like to work close to wherever my wife is working. I miss her terribly when I can't see her during the day." He was laying it on thick, and she thought there was no way that the man wouldn't see through Red's façade.

He didn't seem to notice it though and said, "Well, they are building more greenhouses, so we'll put you on construction duty. Does that sound agreeable?"

Red smiled, "Absolutely."

The man turned to call the construction head and Liz turned to Red.

She stepped close to him and whispered into his ear, "Thanks for making sure you stay close to where I'll be. There's something fishy going on here and I don't feel like getting killed in the process of finding out what that is."

Red turned his head and whispered back, "I agree, and believe it or not Lizzy, but I like spending time in your presence. I find myself wanting for your company when you're absent."

Before Liz could form a response, a tall surfer type man walked in the doors and walked over to her.

"Hi, I'm Jay." He reached out his hand for her to shake and she took it. "It'll be so nice to finally have someone who knows what they're doing working with me. I look forward to it." He had placed his other hand over their clasped hands and was openly flirting with her.

She heard Red clear his throat and he held his hand out and shook Jay's hand, "I'm Andrew, Kristen's husband, nice to meet you." His smile was a predatory one, clearly letting Jay know with a look that his wife was off-limits.

Liz smirked, turnabout was certainly fair play.

"Nice to meet you, Andrew."

Just then another man walked in and walked over to the group. He didn't smile and said,

"I'm Daniel, the head of construction." He looked at Red, sizing him up. "I'm assuming you're Andrew."

Red nodded as Daniel continued in a no non-sense tone, "Good to meet you, we have a lot to go over and a lot to do today, so we need to get going. I'll find you some clothes that you can work in as well", eying Red's suit with disdain.

Red didn't look happy, but there was nothing he could say. "Why don't you go ahead and start walking back and I'll catch up to you. I need to give my wife a proper goodbye." He smirked at her.

Liz spoke up as well, "Same for you Jay, I'll catch up to you."

The workers both shrugged and walked out of the doors.

Red turned to her and once again pulled her into a hug. He whispered, "Lizzy, you be careful. I'm serious. These guys don't seem dangerous, but I'm a career criminal, and the first rule of thumb is never trust someone by their outward appearance."

She turned her head to speak into his ear, "I know Red, You've already told me multiple times to be careful. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."  
He whispered back, "I know that, but we don't know who or what we're dealing with, so keep your eyes and ears open for anything off or for anything that doesn't feel right."

She decided to placate him and just agree with him. "Ok, I will. Don't worry."

He pulled back from their embrace just far enough to kiss her on the forehead, lingering there for a few seconds longer than necessary, squeezed her hand, picked up his suit coat from the chair and walked out the door to catch up to Daniel. Not even looking back at her once.

She looked over at the man sitting at the desk, who was staring at her oddly. She had no idea why he was looking at her like that.

Deciding to ignore it, she smiled at him and walked out the doors. Walking fast so she could catch up to the long-legged Jay and a long day of work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I would love to continue writing this story, but I'm not sure there's enough people who want to read it. Please review and let me know what you think. Reviews are the only way I know people are reading this story. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I really do appreciate each and every one of them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated at least high T. Maybe even a tad higher than that. It has some triggers that people may need to avoid, including violence and allusions to non-con. Read at your own discretion.

Liz walked out the door and hurried to catch up to Jay. Just as she was about to reach him she looked to her right and saw that Red and Daniel were walking into a small building with a sign that said, "Supplies". They were probably going to find him some work clothes.

He turned and caught her staring at him and could see the smug grin on his face because of it. He waved to her, doing so in a way that made her feel like there really was no one else that Red had eyes for. She had a hard time believing him when he had told her that that morning, but sometimes he did and said things that left no doubt about how he felt.

She smiled back at him, giving him a little wave as he walked inside and left her to fend for herself, immediately feeling a loss inside that she couldn't explain, nor wanted to examine any closer.

She felt nervous about what was to come and was looking forward to it like someone was looking forward to a root canal. In other words, not at all.

Catching up to Jay and his long strides, she realized how much better she liked Red's height. He was 5'10" to her 5'6"; Jay had to be at least 6'4". She couldn't even have a conversation with him without straining her neck.

She felt Jay touch her shoulder and she flinched. Apparently he had been trying to talk to her while she was daydreaming about Red. That which in itself pissed her off. Why was she thinking about Red when he wasn't even around? She needed to focus, because who knew what kind of hidden dangers were lurking while she was thinking about how much more practical it would be to kiss Red at his height rather than Jay's.

Mentally shaking herself she turned her head up to Jay and said, "Sorry, I'm a little distracted. What did you say?

He laughed. He really did have a nice smile. Perfectly straight and white teeth. Too perfect. She preferred Red's smi-

"Dammit!" She clapped her hand over her mouth and groaned.

Jay was looking at her like she was crazy, which probably wasn't too far from the truth.

"Is everything Ok, Kristen?"

She smiled apologetically, "Yeah, Sorry, I was just thinking of something that I forgot to do", she lied easily, "It can wait though. What were you saying?"

He narrowed his eyes "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. How much longer until we get there?"

She couldn't see the greenhouses anywhere, and suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't actually taking her there.

His eyes shifted away before she could read them and said, "Oh, they're just through those trees there." He pointed to where he was referring to. It didn't look like anything but trees for miles.

An uneasy feeling starting to grow in the pit of her stomach. She looked around and didn't see anyone else either. Which was odd because there was usually someone always walking past them.

She tried a different tactic to get away from him and back to Red.

"Hey, I just remembered I forgot to ask my husband something. Can we go back?"

He looked at her and suddenly he didn't look like the boy next door, but a predator circling his prey. She started backing away from him, keeping him in her sights. Trying to not let on how scared she was.

He walked up to her, easily covering the gap that she had made between them, and grabbed her arm tightly.

"Ow, Jay, you're hurting me." She was terrified.

He didn't answer her, just giving her a cold look, and started dragging her after him. She tried to wrench her grasp from his, but he acted like she hadn't even affected his grip. His stride unaltered.

There was no way she was going to be able to overpower him either. He was so much bigger than her. Not even with her FBI training.

Shit. She was going to die on this freaking undercover op that she had insisted on. This was no one else's fault but her own. There was no FBI backup this time. Red didn't know she was in trouble. No one did.

Who knew what this freak was going to do to her before he finished her off. She didn't even want to think about it. How many girls had he already done this to? Was April already dead?

There was so much left unresolved between her and Tom, and with Red too.

Jay was still bodily dragging her through the trees, the branches whipping her face and arms.

She decided to try a little psychology on him. "Jay, you know my husband is going to find us before you can do anything right? He's resourceful beyond your imagination."

He didn't say anything. "I'm warning you now, he's super protective, he'll kill you if he sees that you hurt me. Without hesitation. Just let me go now and I won't te-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, BITCH!" He screamed. "I'll do whatever I damn well please with you, and your little man won't be able to do a thing to me." He smiled creepily.

They were getting deeper and deeper into the trees and she honestly didn't see a way out of this situation that ended with her actually living.

After what she guessed was about a quarter of a mile, they came up to a little cabin. It almost looked like an outhouse it was so small. He drug her over to it and threw the door open. Throwing her inside and walking in after her.

He was openly leering at her and walked over to her.

"We're going to have a lot of fun, baby. And no one is going to hear you scream."

She shuddered. His breath was disgusting and he smelled of body odor. She couldn't believe that she had ever thought he was even remotely attractive.

He picked her up and pushed her against a wall. Kissing her neck and working the buttons on her jeans.

She was terrified and disgusted. She had never been in this situation before.

So she did the only thing she could think to do. Which was to completely disconnect her mind from her body.

Jay removed her shirt, leaving her in just her bra, and was still working on her jeans. She was still pressed against the wall with Jay's full body weight. She could barely even breathe, let alone fight back.

She felt like she was floating. Observing her situation as if it wasn't actually her it was happening to.

Jay started kissing her on the mouth, his hands roaming all over her body. She could feel tears burning hot tracks down her cheeks.

He didn't seem to care, and just kept touching her.

Suddenly she heard the door being kicked open. Jay was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't even notice.

She looked up and cried out in relief. It was Red, and he looked madder than she had EVER seen him. Including the situation with The Stewmaker.

She instantly knew that Jay wasn't going to make it out of that outhouse alive, and she found that she didn't really give a shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, kind of a little cliffie. And Wow! Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming support for this story. I really do appreciate it. I finally feel like I'm hitting my stride with it, and feeling comfortable writing Red and Liz. Sorry it's shorter than past chapters, but it's 3 in the morning and I have to work later today. I'll try to write another chapter today to make up for it. Please read and review. I really do appreciate all of them and they bring a smile to my face.  
> *If you want to see what I picture their wedding rings and the compound to look like, there are links in my profile at ff dot com.


	8. Chapter 8

She watched Red's face as he stood in the doorway, assessing the situation. Jay still hadn't noticed that they weren't alone anymore, because he still had her pressed to the wall and had his hands over her bra encased breasts and was starting to kiss his way down to them. She tried her best not to alert Jay to Red's presence, but that was becoming increasingly difficult the more he continued to violate her.

When Red had first opened the door, she could clearly see the burning anger in his features, but now he a calm look in his eyes, as if he had already planned Jay's death in his head and now only needed to execute his plan. The only way she could tell that he was just as angry as she had originally seen was the tightness around his mouth and the rather menacing way he was stalking towards them.

As soon as Red got close enough, he grabbed Jay by his hair with both hands and pulled him from Liz. Jay was so surprised he didn't even have time to react before Red started dragging him out the door by his hair and neck. Red was obviously running off of adrenaline and extreme anger; he was making his manhandling of Jay look easy because Jay was easily fifty pounds heavier and six inches taller than Red. It was rather impressive actually. Jay was trying to get out of Red's grip, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get free and kept yelling, "Let me go or I'll kill you, I swear!"

Red was still silent, which kind of worried her a little actually.

"Karma's a bitch", she mumbled as she collapsed to the floor, trying to breathe deeply and numb her emotions for the moment. She needed to try to get Red to spare Jay's life, because they still needed to find April, and they couldn't blow their covers yet.

She looked around on the floor for her sweater, finding it in a dark corner. It was unusable. In his haste, Jay had stretched the neck completely down, and there were multiple rips from tree branches that had whipped her all over.

She picked it up and held it up to her body, trying to cover herself as much as possible, and hurried out to try to stop Red.

She walked out to a scene from a horror movie. There was blood everywhere. Red was currently straddling Jay's chest and was punching him in the face over and over.

He was mumbling what sounded like, "That was for touching my wife." Punch. "That was for even thinking you could get away with raping my wife." Punch.

She ran over to him, laid her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it trying to get his attention. Jay was out cold, or dead, she couldn't tell.

"Red, please don't kill him. He's not worth blowing our cover for. We still need to find April."

He stopped and looked up at her. There was so much anger in his eyes that even if he had tried to cover it up, there was no way he would've been successful.

"Elizabeth, this man was going to rape you and then kill you."

"Obviously", she thought.

He was trying to reign in his emotions but was unsuccessful and she could see fear in his eyes. Fear in Raymond Reddington's eyes. That was something she thought she would never see.

"There is no way that I'm going to let the abominable man live. He deserves a far slower death than I'm going to give him."

She shuddered. She forgot sometimes how ruthless a criminal that Red was and what he was capable of. He didn't show this side of him often, but when he did it was terrifying.

She had tears running down her face, standing there with her body barely covered in what was left of her sweater.

He finally seemed to notice that she wasn't dressed and wiped the blood that was covering his hands on Jay's clothing, and stood up.

He was still dressed in the suit that he had been wearing earlier that morning, apparently not having time to change into work clothes before he had come to find her. She wondered how he knew to come find her in the first place. Now wasn't the time to ask though.

He took his coat off and then unbuttoned his vest and took that off too. He didn't have his tie with him, and Liz wondered what had happened to it. She shook herself mentally, because really, what did that matter in the scheme of things?

He walked over to her and tried to take the sweater from where she was clutching it to her chest.

She wouldn't let go and Red said, "Sweetheart, you need to let me take this. It's ruined and not covering anything."

She still felt disconnected from everything that had happened. It was a weird feeling.

Liz finally let him pull it from her, and she felt even more exposed in front of him. She crossed her arms over her chest and tears started running down her cheeks.

He took his vest and moved around to the back of her saying, "Lizzy, I need you to put your arms through the holes so we can get you covered up.

She uncrossed her arms and let him dress her in his vest. He walked back around to the front and started buttoning it up. It was way too big for her, but at least it covered her more than the sweater had. After finishing with the buttons he took his suit jacket from where it was lying on the stairs of the "cabin" and put that on her as well.

She was still crying. She couldn't seem to stop, but yet she still didn't feel like anything was real.

After he finished buttoning up the buttons of the coat she felt a lot less exposed. At least physically. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a tender hug. He was being so gentle, cradling the back of her head with one hand and rubbing soothing circles on her back with the other; Rocking her slightly.

He had his head buried in her neck and his breath made her shiver when he said, "Oh Lizzy, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I only wish I had gotten here sooner."

She was clutching to him tightly around the waist, their bodies as close to each other as possible. She didn't say anything, put her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and just sighed.

After a few moments of them just breathing each in, he started pulling away from her. She tried to pull him back against her but he resisted.

He kissed her on the forehead, staying there with his lips against her for a few moments. She could feel him trying to control his emotions; he was still breathing harder than he should have been

After ten seconds or so he pulled away and said, "Sweetheart, I need to deal with that repulsive human being", he looked over in the direction of where Jay was still lying. She still didn't know if he was still alive and she didn't want to know either.

"I don't want you to see it, so I want you to start walking back to camp and I'll catch up to you when everything is taken care of."

She didn't feel like arguing and just nodded her head in agreement.

He pulled her back into a hug and whispered into her ear, "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you."

She started tearing up again. Dammit, she was already tired of crying. The man could be extremely tender and caring when he wanted to be.

He pulled back again and kissed her tenderly on the lips. His lips were warm and soft. She tried to kiss him back, but he had already pulled away and was tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"Go on ahead Lizzy, I'll catch up to you soon. And don't worry, we'll think of a way to keep our covers intact." He smiled softly, turned her towards the direction she needed to go and gently pushed her to get her walking.

She didn't resist and started walking back towards civilization. One foot in front of the other, her mind a welcome blank. She found that she didn't care about whether Jay lived or not and she wasn't sure what that said about her. It was definitely something she didn't want to examine any closer than she had to.

After walking for fifteen minutes or so at a slow pace she started to see the outer buildings of the compound. She hoped Red would catch up to her soon. She didn't know how she was going to explain her injuries to anyone and she wasn't in the right state of mind to come up with something herself.

Suddenly she felt Red's arm around her waist. He pulled her close to his side and looked over at her and smiled. He looked somewhat unsure about where she was at mentally but didn't try to push her to talk. Instead just saying, "Let's go get you a new shirt then go to the infirmary." His military background coming out with the use of that word.

She finally spoke up, her voice a little hoarse and said, "Red, I don't want to see a doctor. It'll only raise even more suspicion on me. I was the last person to see Jay, so they're going to automatically think I had something to do with his disappearance."

She could tell that he wanted to argue, but that she also had a valid point.

He sighed and said, "Ok, but let's get you cleaned up and into clean clothes. I tried to get all the blood off of me-", she shuddered at the thought, "but I still need to wash it off and change my clothes as well."

She wasn't going to ask what he did with Jay, she really didn't want to know. Sometimes it frightened her to think of what this man was capable of when it came to protecting her.

They walked arm in arm towards her room, trying to attract as little attention as possible. There weren't many people walking around because mostly everyone was out doing their "jobs", so they made it to the front doors without incident.

As they walked into the building they ran into Kitty. Liz groaned internally. She so did not want to deal with this woman right now.

"Goodness child, what happened to you!?"

Liz tried to think of something plausible, but her mind was coming up blank. Red saved her ass once again.

"She fell into some kind of ditch while walking with me. We were too engrossed in our conversation to notice it. Her shirt ripped so I simply lent her my jacket until we could get back and get cleaned up." He smiled insincerely at Kitty.

Kitty narrowed her eyes, it looked like she wasn't buying Red's explanation.

She surprised Liz by saying, "I'm glad you're OK honey, is there anything I can do?" She said it in a way that was a little off though. Like she knew they were lying but wasn't going to call them on it.

Liz smiled and said, "No, I think we've got it covered. Andrew can help me with anything that I can't do." She patted Red's arm.

"Ok Dear, but if there's anything I can do, please let me know." Liz nodded and Kitty walked out the door without comment. Glancing back at them once with a suspicious look on her face.

Liz sighed. Just what they needed, someone watching them even closer than normal. This was turning out to be a horrible day.

Red interrupted her thoughts, "Come on Sweetheart, let's get you cleaned up." He grabbed her hand, finally finding it in her oversized coat, laced his fingers in hers and let her lead him to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the reviews and kudos everyone. I hope this made up for the minor cliffie I gave you guys. Haha. Please review and let me know what you think. It really makes my day when I read your comments. In other news..I'm so excited for Doctor Who today, it seems like we've been waiting for so long. Anyone else as excited as I am? :)


	9. Chapter 9

As they walked into her room and closed the door she turned to Red and said, “I can take it from here, Red. I'm a big girl, and I can clean myself up.”  
He smiled softly at her, like he had when he rescued her from the Stewmaker while she was sitting paralyzed in that damn wheelchair, and said, “Lizzy, I know you can, but let me help. Please.”  
She'd never heard Red plead with her before, it was a completely foreign concept actually.  
She didn't know what to say, and took pity on him. “Ok, but no funny business.”  
He huffed a small laugh, “Of course not.”  
She grabbed some clean clothes from her suitcase and walked out the door to the bathroom. Not looking back to see if he was following her but assuming he was.  
As she walked in the bathroom, she heard the door close and the lock snick. She was about to take a bath with Red in the same room, but for some reason she trusted that he wouldn't try to take advantage of the situation.   
She was starting to get comfortable with Raymond Reddington. Heaven help her.  
He walked over to the bathtub and turned the water on, getting the temperature of the water right, and walked close to her.  
He unbuttoned his coat and slipped it off of her, being mindful of any injuries. He then proceeded to unbutton the vest, looking up at her as if asking for permission, and apparently seeing it in her eyes, he took the vest off as well. Leaving her in just her bra and jeans.  
He was keeping his eyes trained on hers, not looking down, and she appreciated him for that.   
She felt him fumbling around for the button of her jeans, his fingers grazing her stomach and giving her goosebumps. She decided to help him before he got too touchy and took his hands and guided him to the correct place.  
He unbuttoned them and slid them down her body.   
Crouching down, he patted her calf for her to lift her feet out of her jeans. She did so and he picked up her pants and laid them on the counter.   
He then turned her around gently by the shoulders and unhooked her bra. She could feel him ghost a kiss on the spot just below the back of her neck.   
“What is he doing?” He was making her feel things that she didn't feel right feeling since they were only undercover, and she was still married. They were here for a job. Nothing else.  
She turned around, still holding her bra up and said, “Red, I'm good now.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off, “Seriously. I'll call out if I need anything.” She actually did feel a lot better emotionally and physically. Red had stopped Jay before anything truly horrific had happened.  
“Lizzy, at least let me look at the cuts on your arms to see if any of them need medical attention.”  
She sighed, “Ok, but let's just get it over with. I just want to go and lie in bed and sleep for a day or two.”  
He squinted his eyes a little and did that little mouth quirk that he always does, which she thought was rather endearing, and turned her back around with his hands on her shoulders.   
She stood there, letting his fingers roam over her back and arms, checking for any deep scratches. She was trying, but failing to not enjoy his ministrations.   
He walked around to her front and started checking her torso for any deep cuts as well. Apparently not finding anything too bad he looked up at her and smiled.   
“There are quite a few scratches on your arms and back, but nothing too serious. I think you'll live.” He smirked, trying to lighten the somber mood.  
He reached up his hand to cup her jaw, but she jerked back, trying to get control of the situation.  
He continued, his hand inches from her face, “I was just going to point out that you have a cut on your cheek from where it appears he hit you.” The anger was back in his eyes.   
She reached out and put her hand on his chest, right above his heart. “Red, it's over with. I'm ok. I'm not seriously injured and you saved me. Thank you by the way.” She smiled a small smile and leaned in and kissed his cheek.  
His mouth twitched again, “I still feel such a burning anger Lizzy, and I don't know how to get rid of it.”   
She didn't know either, and she didn't know what to do with such an emotional Red. Usually he held his emotions so close to his vest, but apparently he was more shaken up about what happened than he was letting on, and as a result his emotions were seeping through the cracks of his emotional wall.   
“Red, you can put that anger into finding April and catching O'Sullivan before he kills more people. That's the only way you can redeem what happened to me.”  
He looked like he wanted to say more, but just nodded his head instead.   
He looked over at the tub and saw that it was almost full, walked over and turned it off then said, “I'm going to go look around for anything suspicious. I'll be back in an hour or so.”  
She nodded and before he could walk away, leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Pulling away before he could respond. Two could play that game. She smiled and pushed him with one arm out the door, still holding her bra up with the other, and locking it behind him.

She finished with her bath, got dressed and was lying under the covers in her bed trying to sleep when he finally returned. It had been at least two hours and she'd been worried someone had figured out their covers and injured him or worse.  
He knocked quietly, and at her “Come in”, opened the door. It looked like had showered and changed clothes. Wearing a different dress shirt and vest; with his collar and the first two buttons unbuttoned, and no tie. She could also see a white undershirt peeking out, and he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “Damn”, she thought, he really had no business looking that good after everything that had happened that day.   
Attempting to cover up her admiration of him, she said, “Why were you gone so long?” There was accusation in her voice that she tried to tamp down, but by his reaction at her tone, was somewhat unsuccessful.  
He frowned and said, “I was contacting Dembe and Luli about our situation and getting some updates on some “Outside affairs” that needed my attention.”   
Apparently the person who had searched his things didn't find his phone. Of course he knew how to hide things in plain sight, so she wasn't surprised.  
“Did you find out anything new?”  
He smirked, “Yes, actually. Ol' Jacky boy has been busy. I had Luli track down his movements over the last ten years and imagine my surprise when she found that there had been three other “Compounds” of this sort.”  
She grimaced, “Had been?” This wasn't going to be good.  
“Yes, they've all disappeared completely. Along with the members.”  
“Were there ever any police investigations into the disappearances?”  
He laughed, “Oh Lizzy, sometimes your naivety is so endearing.”   
She glared at him in annoyance and he held up his hands in surrender and continued, “The police claimed that the people all left on their own free will, so they couldn't investigate them as missing persons, because technically they weren't. People are allowed to disappear off the grid if they so desire to.”  
He was right, but it was still wrong that so many people had gone missing and no one had done anything about it.   
“So do you think O'Sullivan is killing the members after he gets tired of them or something?”  
He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, lying his hand on her hip. She tried moving away, but he tightened his grip. She sighed and stopped resisting.  
“I think that's precisely what he's doing. He recruits people by telling him that they'll get a new start and won't have people looking for them, and then after a few months to possibly years he gets tired of them and has his fun killing them in imaginative ways. This man is as sadistic a person you'll ever meet.”  
She shivered, which he felt because he still had his hand on her, and said, “Well what are we going to do then? We obviously can't let him just kill everyone here and move on again. We have to stop him here.”  
He rolled his eyes at her stating of the obvious and smiled an amused smile, “Lizzy, I don't plan on letting him get away. We need to find evidence on him so we can properly convict him of his crimes. Then he'll spend the rest of his life rotting away in prison, or be killed in prison once they learn of his horrific crimes.”  
She nodded her head, then hesitated, “....And I'm assuming you have a plan in place to find this evidence?”   
He rubbed his hand up and down her side a little and said, “Yes I do, but we'll talk about that later. You simply look exhausted. You've been through a lot today.”  
He patted her hip and stood up, then leaned down and kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, “I'm so glad I got to you in time.” She felt him exhale slowly, like he was trying to control his emotions, then he stood back up and started walking away.  
She caught his hand before he could get too far away and he looked at her in question.  
“Will you stay with me?” She could see that he was going to refuse and continued, “Just until I fall asleep. Then you can go do your investigating.”   
He nodded his head in agreement. She slid as close to the wall as she could get because it was only a twin bed and it was going to be a tight fit.   
He slipped off his shoes and slid in next to her. She had her back to him so he slid closer to her and put his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against his body. She could smell his aftershave that she loved so much, and it was stronger than usual. He must have just shaved before coming back.   
She laced her fingers through his and sighed.   
She really shouldn't be lying in bed with another man that wasn't her husband. This went against everything she had ever been taught, but Tom wasn't here and Red was. She didn't want to even think about how much safer Red made her feel than Tom. How that was possible she didn't know, because Reddington was a criminal and a professional liar, but she found she didn't care at the moment.  
Almost asleep, she mumbled, “Thanks, Red. You've been great today.”  
She felt him squeeze her hand in response and she gave in to the pull of sleep.

She awoke to the ringing of a bell and looked around in confusion, wondering where the hell the sound was coming from.   
She saw that it was dark outside. “Must be the dinner bell”, she mumbled. She had been asleep for over eight hours.  
Remembering that she had fallen asleep with Red next to her, she turned over and saw that he was gone. She felt the sheets, they were cold, so he had been gone for a while. She was strangely disappointed.  
She stretched her arms over her head, and feeling all the cuts and bruises at once, groaned in pain.  
“Owww”, she mumbled.  
She suddenly realized how hungry she was. Good thing it was dinner time, although she didn't know how she was going to explain everything that had happened, and why Jay was missing.  
She figured Red would have a good cover story.  
She got up and made herself as presentable as she could, she thought she looked a little green around the gills, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Liz walked to the dining hall, constantly looking behind her in fear that someone was going to attack her or try and kidnap her. She made it without incident and stood in the doorway, looking for Red.  
She spotted him immediately and rolled her eyes.   
He was talking to Jordyn again, which annoyed her to no end, because the woman was obviously still interested in him. She could see that from across the room. Sometimes men were clueless.  
She walked over to him, put her hand on his head and rubbed her hand over his short hair.  
He startled, turned around and immediately stood up, “Honey, what are you doing here? I thought you were planning on sleeping through the night?”  
He pulled her into a comforting hug, which she appreciated immensely because she was so on edge.  
She said into his ear, “I heard the dinner bell and my stomach had other ideas.”  
He pulled back from her, kissed her forehead and said, “It'll be a tight fit, but you can sit by me, I don't want you trying to find another seat elsewhere.”  
She looked at the small space dubiously.   
Jordan stood up with an annoyed look on her face and said, “You can have my seat, I've suddenly lost my appetite.” She glared at Liz.  
Liz smiled her “Stop trying to take my man” smile and said, “Thanks, Jordyn, I appreciate it.”  
Jordyn grimaced, placed her hand on Red's shoulder and said, “I'll see you around Andrew”, and walked away.  
He absentmindedly waved in her direction not even saying goodbye. It made Liz immensely happy that he wasn't interested in Jordyn.  
Red put his arm around Liz's waist and leaned over whispering into her ear, “Since we still can't sleep in the same room tonight, I'm planning on sneaking out and looking for some evidence to implicate Jack.”  
That didn't sound like a good plan to her. Not at all.   
“Red”, she whispered back, “You're going to get caught, and he's going to kill you. Then we'll never get the evidence we need.”  
Shaking his head he said, “Liz, you need to trust me. How do you think I've survived the last twenty or so years off the grid?” He answered his own question. “I'm not stupid Sweetheart, Luli and Dembe are going to sneak in and help.”  
She didn't like it, but Red obviously wasn't going to be talked out of doing it. “Can I help too? I don't want to be sitting in my room all night worrying about you getting caught or killed. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep anyway.”  
He squinted at her, which he had been doing a lot lately, and said, “I really don't want you there, but I suspect you'll show up anyway, so I might as well include you in my plans.”  
She smiled victoriously and he just shook his head and kissed her temple.  
With that out of the way, her stomach rumbled loudly which he heard.   
He chuckled, “I'll go get you something to eat, sit tight”, and stood up disappearing into the crowd.  
Who was she to argue with being served?

After dinner they walked arm in arm back to her room.   
When they got there, she locked the door and they sat on her bed side by side. For the next hour he proceeded to tell her the plan and what he wanted her to do, which was to essentially be the lookout. She wasn't going to complain though, because she just wanted to be there, she didn't care what she did.  
After they were done he got up to leave. Lights out was at 9:30 and it was getting close to that. They were going to enact their plan at 10:30, so she didn't have too long to wait around.  
She walked him to the door and opened it. There were a group of women standing in the hallway whose conversation came to a halt as soon as they saw Red.   
He pulled Liz close and said into her ear, “Let's give them a show.”  
Before she could object, he cupped her face with his hands and proceeded to thoroughly kiss her. Tongues and teeth clashing passionately. After what seemed like twenty minutes, but was probably only one or two in reality, he pulled away and leaned his head on her forehead, breathing hard.  
She snuck a glance at the women. They were all staring at them in shock, their eyes wide and mouths open. She laughed internally.  
He pulled his head back, kissed her on the forehead and said loud enough for the women to hear, “I'll see you tomorrow morning, Honey. I love you.”  
Too shocked to say anything at that declaration, she just nodded and tried to smile.   
He winked at her, indicating that he would actually see her later that night, and walked away.  
She turned and smiled at the women, who were still open mouthed and staring at her, and went back into her room, locking the door behind her once again.   
She was looking forward to tonight being over with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put a lot of fluff in this one because I needed it after that amazingly angst filled episode last night. I still can't believe everything that happened. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it now! :) Thanks so much for the reviews and kudos' everyone. I looove getting them, and I really do feel better that day if I get a lot, so please let me know what you think about this chapter. Good or bad. You guys are all fantastic. Next chapter will be Red and Liz looking for evidence to implicate O'Sullivan. Should be interesting. *vigorously rubs hands together*


	10. Chapter 10

As 10:15 rolled around, Liz was getting nervous. Lights out had been almost an hour ago, and she had gone to the communal bathroom and gotten ready for bed just like everyone else so she wouldn't be suspected of anything.

She was still getting funny looks from some of the women who had seen her and Red making out in the hallway. The looks on their faces still made her smile when she thought about it.

At 10:30, dressed in dark clothes, she opened her bedroom door and stuck her head out into the hallway to see if there was anyone out. She didn't see anyone and quietly stepped into the hall and closed her door. It made a creaking sound; she winced and paused for a moment.

Apparently no one had heard the sound, so she walked as quietly as possible to the front doors and walked out into the night.

What Liz hadn't seen was that Kitty was standing in the shadows, watching her, or that Kitty had followed her out the doors.

Liz was supposed to meet Red at the back door of the administration building. She was hurrying as fast as possible, because she didn't want Red to go on without her and she was already running a few minutes behind.

She arrived at the back and saw no one. She knew she was at the right place and she wasn't that late, so she decided to sit against the building and wait for a few minutes. After fifteen minutes of no Red, Luli or Dembe she was getting seriously worried. She hated that she couldn't just call Red to see where he was.

She stood up and walked over to the door and peeked into the glass, but it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything. She tugged at the door, hoping it would be unlocked, but no such luck.

Something had to be wrong. Red wouldn't just not show up and leave her vulnerable outside in the dark, especially after what had happened that morning.

She couldn't believe that nightmare had only happened that day. She was still feeling really skittish and nervous too, and Red not showing up certainly didn't help.

Not knowing what to do she just stood there for a minute thinking, when suddenly she heard a scream come from the forest right in front of her. She was torn about whether or not she should investigate because she didn't have her gun or backup, but her FBI instincts told her to go help whomever was in trouble.

Her training won out, and she took her miniature Maglite out of her pocket and turned it on. It didn't produce much light, but enough for her to see the ground so she wouldn't trip and fall.

She still hadn't heard anything else besides the first scream, and that worried her immensely.

Trying to make as little sound as possible, she walked for about fifteen minutes and didn't see anything.

'Maybe it was just an animal?" She thought.

Of course it was so dark that it would have been almost impossible to see the object her left foot had caught on that made her trip, unless she had been shining her mini flashlight right on it, which she hadn't been. She fell hard, landing on her side.

The wind was knocked out of her, making her gasp for breath, tears tracking down her face. She curled up into a ball and just tried to breathe. After another minute or so of that, she finally started feeling a little better.

Wiping the tears from her face, she quickly located the flashlight that had rolled a few feet away and picked it up. She shined the light to the area where she had tripped, searching left and right with the tiny beam for whatever she had tripped over.

She moved a little more to the left and the light rested on the face of Luli Veng; Eyes wide open and obviously dead. Liz had tripped over Luli's arm that had been sticking out at an odd angle.

She screamed, clapping her hand over her mouth to try to muffle the sound, and not doing a very good job of it. She was in full on panic mode now and had no idea what to do. For all she knew, Luli's killer could be lurking around the next tree.

She frantically shined her light every which way but didn't see anyone else.

Trying to calm her breathing she mumbled to herself, "Elizabeth, calm down, remember your training. Find out how Luli died first, then find Red."

Breathing in and out as slowly as possible, she knelt next to Luli and shined her light over her body. Not seeing anything on the lower half of the body, she moved up and saw that Luli's neck had been slashed. There was blood everywhere. "So not an accident, definitely murdered."

Deciding there was nothing else she could do at the moment, she ran her hand over Luli's eyes to close them and stood up. She sighed.

She hadn't known Luli very well, and had only spoken to her in passing. Red was going to be devastated because he didn't let himself form personal bonds, but he had obviously done that with Luli, and Dembe for that matter, and now one of them was dead. Who knew if Dembe was even still alive.

Torn about what to do, she finally decided to just start walking back towards the administration building and hope against hope that Red was there waiting for her.

She walked for ten minutes or so, trying not to make noise, while also trying not to panic at every little sound coming out of the blackness behind her.

After looking over at her shoulder for the tenth time she turned back around and came face to face with Red. Startled, she screamed again, but before she could get it all out, Red had grabbed her and covered her face with his hand.

She was breathing hard and couldn't hear what he was saying over the sound of her pounding heartbeat in her ears.

Red started shaking her a little, "Lizzy, what the hell are you doing out here? It's dangerous to be-"

She cut him off, "Red, Luli's dead." He said nothing.

She started rambling after he failed to respond to her declaration. "I heard a scream in the trees and you weren't at the administration building and I didn't what to do and I thought maybe you were in da-" This time it was his turn to cut her off.

"Elizabeth, you need to show me where you found her body." His face was showing no emotion, but she could see the pain in his eyes.

He grabbed her elbow and started dragging her noisily back through the trees, not caring if she was getting whipped by the branches.

She jerked her elbow from his grasp, "Red, STOP, you don't know where you're going. Just let me show you before you get my face taken off by tree branches."

He had the dignity to look at her apologetically and said, "Sorry Lizzy, everything is shot to hell and I'm not thinking clearly."

Deciding he was calm enough now for a conversation she said, "What the hell happened and why didn't you show up at the building? I waited for twenty minutes and didn't know what to do before I heard the scream."

He grimaced, "Sorry, there had been some kind of incident at the dorms and there was still a lot of people out of their beds when the time came for me to leave. I had to wait until everyone had retired to their rooms before I could sneak out. I had hoped that you all would wait for me at the meeting place."

"Red, neither Dembe nor Luli ever showed up."

"Dammit all to HELL." He was angry now.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I know she was your friend."

He shrugged off her hand and ran his hands over his short hair in frustration, "We need to go and recover Luli's body and bury it before anyone finds it. Jack knows who Luli is, and if he finds her then he'll know I'm around. He may not know what I look like, but he knows that Luli is-was working for me." She tried not to be hurt by his rejection of comfort, but it was hard. She wasn't used to seeing this side of Red and she didn't know how to help him with his loss.

Shrugging off her hurt she said, "Come on, let me show you. I'm pretty sure I can find that area again."

She started walking, fully expecting Red to take her hand but he never did. She could hear him trailing behind her a few feet.

She tried to quell the little bubble of disappointment, reminding herself that he wasn't required to hold her hand or even touch her, and that he had just lost a friend, possibly two of them.

They were silent on the walk back to where Luli's body was. She could hear his breathing, but nothing else. Not even any sounds in the forest, which seemed really odd to her.

They got to the area where she thought the body was but couldn't find it. She shined her light over the ground in confusion. "This is where the body was, I swear."

He stalked up to her and grabbed the flashlight from her hand, swept it all over the ground, and came to the same conclusion. "Are you sure Liz? Could you be mistaken?"

She huffed in annoyance, grabbed the flashlight back from him, and shined it at a different area than Red had been searching. "Yes, I'm sure. Look at the blood everywhere."

There was an imprint of a body in the dirt and marks to indicate that the it had been dragged away.

"Son of a Bitch, I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

She nodded, "There's obviously something going on behind the scenes at this place that we don't know about. Including killing people and dragging their bodies away."

"I think you're correct, Lizzy. Which makes it even more important that our covers aren't blown. We need to find out what else is going on here."

She didn't know what to do. "So..what? We're just going to go back to bed and forget this ever happened? Hope that Jack doesn't see the body and connect it to you?"

He looked tired. "We need to find Dembe, but there's no way we can find him in the dark. So yes, we're going to return to our beds and hope everyone was none the wiser about our absence."

She agreed that there seemed to be nothing else they could do, but she didn't like it. There were too many what ifs, the big one being the disappearance of Luli's body.

She was exhausted. It has been a long twenty-four hours and she was more than ready for sleep.

"Ok, Red, let's go back then, I'm exhausted."

She saw concern in his eyes for her for the first time since she ran into him. He reached up and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ears and gave her a faint smile. "Lizzy, I'm sorry for taking all of this out on you. In no way do I blame you for anything that's transpired tonight, OK?"

She patted his shoulder, "I know, Red, and I understand, I really do."

He nodded. "Let's go then, there's nothing else to be done here. I just wish I knew what's happened to Dembe."

"Me too."

He sighed and took her hand, interlacing their fingers, and started leading them out of the forest. She let herself be led because she was dead on her feet.

He had taken her flashlight again and was using it to see the ground in front of him.

They both didn't see Kitty until she stepped in front of them and said, "Well, well, well..what do we have here?" Liz couldn't see her face, but the tone of her voice was odd.

"Oh, Shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading. Thank you for the reviews and kudos' for the last chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought about this chapter. Feedback only makes me a better writer in the long run. I hope all of my American readers had a fantastic Thanksgiving. :)


	11. Chapter 11

Kitty had brought her large flashlight up and was shining it into their faces. Liz didn't know what to say. She had no idea if Kitty had heard any of their conversation and their covers had been blown or if she was just confronting them because they weren't where they were supposed to be at this time of night. She prayed it was the latter.

Red put his arm around Liz's waist, pulled her close to his side and said, "We just needed some alone time Kitty, you can understand that can't you? I'm not accustomed to being away from Kristen for such long periods of time."

Kitty was looking at them skeptically. "Why did you come all the way out here then? It's a random place for a tryst."

Liz spoke up for the first time, putting on her most pitiful smile and said, "We wanted to find a place where we wouldn't be bothered or bother anyone else. The forest behind the administration building seemed perfect."

Kitty still looked like she wasn't believing their story. They had to be more convincing.

Liz turned her body fully towards Red and wound the arm that wasn't already holding on to him around his waist, hugging him tightly to her.

He brought his other arm up to the back of her neck and held her head to his shoulder. She went willingly and sighed into his neck.

Kitty was silent, just looking at them.

After ten seconds or so Liz pulled back and said, "You have to believe us Kitty, we just needed to see more of each other." She then leaned forward and kissed Red softly on the lips, which were soft and warm. She had found herself liking his lips entirely too much lately. She pulled back before he could deepen the kiss though and turned back to Kitty.

After another moment of silent contemplation, Kitty finally spoke. "Well I can't say I blame you for wanting some alone time, but the forest can be dangerous this time of night." She had an odd look on her face when she said that. "You only have one more night of separation and then you can be together as much as you want."

Red pulled back a little more from Liz and said, "Yes, now would be a good time to tell us the reasoning behind separating couples from each other for so long. Why for three days?"

Kitty laughed, "It's simply to test how well new members can follow rules. You guys didn't do very well." She laughed again, "I won't tell Jack though, I've taken a liking to you two and I don't want to see you get in trouble."

Liz smiled faintly, "Thanks Kitty, we really do appreciate it. We love it here a lot and don't want to be kicked out for breaking rules. We promise not to do it again."

Red still had his right hand on the small of her back and he started tapping his fingers as though he was trying to tell her something. She didn't have any idea as to what it was about though.

Kitty smiled again and said, "Speaking of Jack, Kristen, he wants to talk to you tomorrow. Jay has gone missing and he wanted to ask you if you knew anything about where he might have gone since you were one of the last people to see him." She felt Red's fingers stiffen on her back.

A pit of dread formed in her stomach. "Shit", Kitty knew something. Maybe even everything that had happened.

Liz was having a hard time coming up with something to say so she forced herself to nod and smiled faintly.

Kitty continued, either not noticing or choosing not to comment on Liz's silence, "He wants you in his office by 7 AM, so right after breakfast if possible."

She finally noticed the nervous look on Liz's face and waved one of her hands, "Oh don't be nervous Honey, he's just trying to gather all the information that he can. He also wants to get to know you since you're new here."

She glanced at Red, "He'll want to meet with you soon too Dear. He likes to get to know all of his members as much as possible." Red just nodded and didn't say anything.

Liz was still silent, more than a little terrified at what was to come, when she suddenly felt Red's hand on the bare skin of her back, and it was freezing cold.

She jumped, then turned and glared at Red, but he just smiled back and told her with his eyes to "Answer Kitty before she becomes even more suspicious dammit".

She hurriedly turned to Kitty and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry Kitty, I'm so exhausted right now, and my brain doesn't seem to want to do much thinking. I look forward to meeting Jack, he seems like an interesting person."

"Oh you have no idea Child, he's one of the best men I've ever known." She sighed wistfully.

Liz thought that it sounded like Kitty was infatuated with Jack, and shivered internally.

They all stood there looking at other. Red's hand was still on her bare skin and he was rubbing his thumb up and down her spine. She couldn't very well turn and slug him, so she just sighed and tried to ignore the feelings that he was eliciting with his ministrations. Sometimes she hated him.

Finally Red spoke up, "Well as much as I'd love to stand here and chat for the remainder of the night, we have to get up early and it's really late. So we're going to take our leave now Kitty, if you don't mind." He smiled charmingly at Kitty.

Kitty smiled and nodded, looking at Red with appreciation in her eyes. She apparently wasn't immune to Raymond Reddington's charms either. The man just made it too easy to like him.

Red took his hand out from under her shirt, put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. They walked past Kitty and smiled goodbye, with Red shining her little flashlight on the path so they could see where to go.

Kitty stared at their retreating backs and smiled evilly, her flashlight accentuating all the angles of her face, making her look truly menacing.

They didn't say anything until they got back to the dorms because they didn't know if Kitty was following them. Hell, she probably was. There was something shady about the woman that Liz worried about.

Once they got back to the front doors of the women's dorms Liz pulled away from Red, trying to put a little distance between them. They were getting too close, and that needed to be addressed sometime soon; now wasn't the time though.

She didn't want to be completely separated from him again, but they didn't have much choice. "Red, I'm going to go to bed. Will I see you at breakfast tomorrow or are you going to go and try to contact Dem be?"

At the mention of his bodyguard/friend a pained look came over his face. She regretted bringing it up, but needed to know. "I'll see you at breakfast, then while you're meeting with Jack, I'll go and try to contact Dembe."

There was still pain in his eyes and Liz wished she knew how to take it away, but also knew that time was the only thing that would lessen the hurt.

She placed a hand on his arm and started walking past him to go inside, but Red grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. He turned his head, with his lips on her ear and said, "I'm so glad nothing happened to you Lizzy. Your death would be something that I would never be able to get over nor forgive myself for."

It was times like these that she realized the depth of Red's feeling for her. And it scared her to death.

Not knowing what to say, she just turned her head and kissed the side of his head, right where his side-burn ended, and sighed.

He let her go after a moment and smiled softly at her. "Goodnight, Sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning. Make sure you lock your door."

She put her hand on his forearm and said, "I will, night Red."

He nodded and walked past her to make his way to the men's dorms. Liz watched him for a moment, but the hairs on the back of her neck started standing up and she suddenly felt like she was being watched herself.

Shivering, she hurried back to her room and locked the door behind her.

The man stood watching as the woman hurried back inside. He laughed at her fear, she really had no idea what was in store for her.

The next morning came entirely too soon and Liz was exhausted. She didn't feel alert enough to have a conversation with Jack, but she didn't have much choice in the matter either.

She got up and walked over to the bathroom to take a shower. The other women were just finishing up and leaving when she got out and started getting dressed.

One of the younger looking ones looked over at her and said, "So are you really married to that old guy?"

Liz smiled, amused that Red was considered "The old guy".

"Yes I am, and you could only hope to find someone like him in your lifetime", and walked out before the girl could say anything.

The girl had had a surprised expression on her face at Liz's statement and Liz laughed internally at the look.

She went back into her room and finished getting ready, dressing in tight jeans and an ice blue, form-fitting long-sleeved shirt. She put her hair back in a messy bun and started at herself in the mirror.

She needed to look put together and confident in front of Jack, and she thought she had accomplished that.

She walked into the dining hall and immediately searched for Red. She found him at the usual place and hurried over to him, trying to avoid running into people in the packed room.

Thank goodness Jordyn wasn't sitting next to Red again. She didn't have the patience to deal with her right now because she was way too nervous about her meeting with Jack.

She placed her hand on his shoulder in greeting and he looked up at her and smiled. His smile wasn't completely genuine though, as she could still see hurt and worry in his eyes.

"Hey Andrew, how are you this morning?"

He stood up, kissed her cheek and said "Very well, a little tired though." He smiled knowingly.

He waited for her to sit down before he sat back down.

Displaying manners that had been ingrained in him since childhood, because even if he was a criminal, he still knew how to treat a woman with respect.

He turned to her and said, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry", She placed her right hand on her stomach. "I'm too nervous." She was feeling a little green.

He smiled faintly and took her left hand, playing with her ring. "Sweetheart, there's nothing to be nervous about, just be yourself and-"

She cut him off and said softly, so she wouldn't be overheard, "Don't, please, I don't want to be placated. I just want to get it over with..can we leave it at that?"

Letting go of her hand, he nodded and turned back to his breakfast.

Liz felt bad for snapping at him, but she knew he would get over it soon enough.

After sitting there for fifteen minutes or so she started to feel a little better. They hadn't said anything to each other, and she just watched the crowds while he stayed focused on eating his food.

Finally feeling hungry, she snatched Red's toast from his tray. He looked over at her and furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey, I was going to eat that."

She smiled, didn't say anything and just took a bite of the toast.

He shrugged, apparently not caring too much, and turned back to finish the rest of his food.

After finishing he stood up, picked up his dirty tray and walked away to put it in the wash pile at the front of the hall.

She turned around and admired him. He still hadn't received any work clothes yet, so he was dressed in black dress pants with a dark blue dress shirt and a black vest. He hadn't put on a tie, and again had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top two buttons of his shirt unbuttoned with a white undershirt peeking out.

He looked entirely too good for it being seven in the morning.

He turned around after depositing his breakfast dishes, caught her staring at him and smirked. Looking pleased with himself.

She rolled her eyes and stood up herself. It was time to go meet with Jack. Her stomach rolled and she suddenly regretted eating that toast.

He walked back over to her and took her hand, then led her outside where they could talk without listening ears all around them.

"Lizzy, I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you look. That color of blue on you is simply exquisite. I told you that you're a Winter. I'm glad you took my advice."

She smiled at him and looked down, embarrassed, "Thanks, Red."

"Think nothing of it, Sweetheart." He looked at his watch. "It's five to seven, let's get you over to Jack's office so you won't be late."

She nodded and started walking towards her destination. He walked beside her slipping his rose-colored sunglasses on, but didn't take her hand, perhaps sensing that she wasn't in the mood for any physical contact. For once she was glad that he could read her so well. Most of the time it annoyed her though.

They arrived at the building that Jack's office was in and Liz turned to Red. "Are you going to go and try to contact Dembe?"

He nodded, grimacing, and she could see the extreme worry he had for the fate of his bodyguard.

She was nervous too, she didn't like seeing Red like this. The man had lost too many people in his life already, and who knew if one more loss would be the breaking point for him.

"Ok, well be careful, Red. Who knows if there's a killer still lurking in the woods."

"I'm more worried about you Liz. I know what kind of person O'Sullivan is, and I don't want you anywhere near him." The worry was back in his eyes.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I'll just tell him a made up story about what happened with Jay, I have a good one by the way, and win him over with my charming personality." She smirked.

He just smiled faintly and shook his head in amusement.

"I've to go or I'll be late", she was pointing behind her.

He grimaced again, and leaned in to kiss her softly on the temple, and stayed there while saying, "I'll probably have to go and perform my construction duties today, so please come and find me when you're done with Jack."

She nodded, breathing him in, and it instantly comforted her. She hated that she needed him so much.

He walked away and she turned towards the building. "Here goes nothing."

She walked in and immediately found Jack's office. She took a deep breath, knocked and opened the door at the "Come in" from Jack.

He stood up and smiled at her, she couldn't believe she ever thought he was good-looking, he was creepy.

"Hello Kristen, please come in and sit down." He was still smiling, but it didn't reach his blue eyes.

She took a deep breath, put on her best fake smile and sat down.

"Here we go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the kudos and comments from last chapter. They truly are motivating me to keep writing. Thanks for reading this chapter and please let me know what you think. Feedback always helps me improve my writing.


	12. Chapter 12

"So Kristen, tell me about yourself." He was smiling, but his eyes were icy daggers.

He sat down and leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled together waiting for her to answer.

He was exuding confidence and had an air of superiority about him that really annoyed Liz.

Red was always like that though, and it didn't annoy her, which she didn't understand. Maybe because she knew Red had some redeeming qualities.

She sat back in her chair, crossed her legs and smiled insincerely. She had to make this convincing. "Well, I grew up in Salt Lake City until I was twelve, then when my parents divorced, I moved with my Mom to Virginia where I lived until I graduated High School."

She paused and he gestured with a hand to continue.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to study in College, so I went to a Junior College and completed my generals. I found that I loved working with people and helping them, so I decided I wanted to be a nurse."

He interrupted her, "So you have medical knowledge?"

She shook her head, "No, I took one semester of the required classes and found I really didn't want to do that either. So I switched my major to accounting, which I found I absolutely loved, and that's what I got my degree in. Then I spent another two years getting my Master's Degree"

He nodded, "How did you meet your husband?"

This is the part she had to be the most convincing at. "I was working as a Senior Accountant for an accounting firm in DC. Andrew had some dealings with my company and that's when we first met. I could tell he instantly liked me, but it took me a while to even like him as a friend."

She laughed and waved her hand, "He was persistent though, and we became good friends. Then one day he asked me out on a date, it sounded like it might be fun so I accepted, and the rest is history.

I completely fell in love with him by our second date. He was charming, kind, funny and just what I had been searching for. We dated for a good two years and then he asked me to marry him, and it was an easy "Yes" for me. We got married in Hawaii seven years ago, last month."

She smiled wistfully, completing her story, it really hadn't been hard talking about her fake feelings for Red, because they weren't so fake anymore. Dammit.

Jack smiled faintly, "Sounds like you two are good for each other."

He paused for a moment, scrutinizing her face, "So why did you choose to join us here if everything is so perfect with your marriage?"

She laughed airily, "Oh, we were just tired of the hustle and bustle of real life. Andrew was working long hours as a CEO and I was always working too, so we never got to see each other. It was starting to come to the point where we were strangers in our own home, so we heard about your group and figured there was no better time than the present to reconnect as a couple and to get out of the city life."

He nodded, "We don't usually get people like you guys, we mostly get people who are down on their luck or looking to disappear. It's nice to hear a different story."

His eyes were really freaking her out. They held no warmth in them whatsoever, and she wondered how people could be so easily fooled by him.

She nodded, "Yeah, but there are a lot of good people here."

He didn't answer her and sat there staring at her, like he was trying to figure something out. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, he said, "So I wanted to ask you about Jay."

She felt a pit of dread form in her stomach. She wasn't that great of a liar, and she didn't know if she was going to be able to pull off the lie.

She grimaced and tried to look surprised, "What about him?"

Well he's gone missing and we can't find him anywhere. It's been over twenty-four hours now, so it looks like he's officially gone. I know that he met you and took you to the greenhouses, so I just wanted to know what happened after that.

His intel wasn't very good if he thought they had even made it to the greenhouses. She wondered if he was covering something up for a greater purpose or genuinely had bad information.

She hoped it was the latter.

"Well Jay showed me around the greenhouses, told me what my duties were going to be and then assigned me a job for the day. He watched me for fifteen minutes or so to make sure I was doing it right, then told me that he needed to be somewhere else and that he would return in a few hours."

She frowned, "I didn't think much about it at the time, and when he never returned I just found stuff to do for a few more hours, then went in search of my husband. I had remembered something I needed to ask him, but I fell in some kind of hole while walking and scratched up my torso and arms. So Andrew helped me get cleaned up and I went to bed until dinnertime. so I didn't realize that Jay had never returned."

He had sat up during her story and was leaning his elbows on his desk. "Are you ok?" He didn't look like he actually cared one way or the other and was just being polite.

She smiled, "Oh I'm fine, nothing too serious." She was ready for this "Interview" to be over with. She didn't like how Jack looked at her and it was making her more and more nervous.

He stood up, "Well it sounds like Jay just decided to take off without telling anyone. He had asked me a couple months ago if he could leave, but I told him no. Guess he decided to take matters into his own hands."

She didn't like that people couldn't leave if they wanted to. It was obvious that Jack had other plans for his "Members".

She was starting to feel a little claustrophobic and needed to leave soon before she had a panic attack. She stood up herself and smiled, "If that's going to be all..."

He walked around his desk and over to her, then put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed hard. It hurt. "Ow, Jack.."

He pulled her around to face him, pulled her into his body and whispered into her ear, "I heard about your little adventure in the woods last night. I better not hear about you guys breaking any more rules, or you'll have to face the consequences, and you don't want to find out what those are. I promise you." Damn Kitty. She couldn't believe that Kitty had told on them after telling them she wouldn't.

Jack was still gripping her shoulder hard enough to leave bruises.

She nodded and tried not to panic. "Oh and if you tell your husband about this, I will hurt him, I promise. So you better keep your mouth shut and your head down."

Tears were running down her cheeks but she didn't dare move to wipe them away. He was nuzzling her ear and she felt like she was going to throw up what little she still had in her stomach.

"Ok, Jack, I won't tell Andrew anything I promise, just please let me go, you're really hurting me." She was full out panicking.

He stepped back, released her shoulder and smiled, "I'm glad we understand each other Kristen. I'm also glad we got to have this chat. You can leave now."

She didn't look at him as she hurriedly made her way out of his office, trying not to run. She kept attempting to wipe her tears away, but more kept taking their place.

She walked out into the fresh air and took a deep breath. She really needed to compose herself before talking to Red. She had already decided not to tell him about the last part, because she just knew that he would confront Jack about it, and probably get himself killed in the process.

Pulling the collar of her shirt over her shoulder to see if she could see any bruises, she winced at what she saw. There were four distinct finger marks that were already starting to darken. She had to make sure Red never saw them.

Liz moved away from the building and went and sat against a tree to get herself together and calmed down, sitting there for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Finally feeling better, she made her way down to the greenhouses where the construction crews were working.

There were two teams of five working on two different projects, and she spotted Red immediately. He was standing on the roof of one of the buildings, holding a tool for another worker and he had his back to her so he didn't see her.

She stopped to watch him. He was dressed in loose-fitting dark washed jeans and a navy plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He also had construction boots on and a tool belt that was hanging loosely off of his hips. The man could make anything he wore look good, because damn did he look good.

Someone must have tipped him off to her presence, because he turned around and smiled at her. Gesturing with his hands that he was going to come down and talk to her. She nodded her understanding and walked a little farther away so they could talk in private.

He walked up to her smiling, but immediately could tell that something was wrong and frowned. "Lizzy, what happened?" He looked so concerned for her and had so much warmth in his eyes, which was the complete opposite of Jack, that it was all too much for her to keep her emotions in check.

She burst into tears and threw herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her completely. She put her face in his neck, breathed him in (he smelt like wood, fresh air and aftershave) and just cried for a good five minutes, during which time he ran soothing circles on her back with one hand and his fingers through her hair with the other. It went a long way towards calming her down.

She finally had her emotions under control and pulled away, embarrassed, "Sorry, Red."

He put a finger under chin and pulled her face up to his, "What the hell happened, Lizzy? Did he hurt you?" Anger was brewing in his eyes.

"No, no, nothing like that", she lied, "It was just a very emotionally taxing conversation. I had to do a lot of lying and I just needed to let out some emotion before I exploded." She smiled unconvincingly.

He didn't look like he believed her, did his little mouth twitch, and said, "Lizzy, I have a feeling you're lying to me, which I don't understand why, but I can't very well make you tell me."

She felt guilty for lying, but she convinced herself it was to protect him. Not that he needed protecting, but she didn't want him to get killed trying to defend her honor or anything.

"Really, Red, everything went Ok. Jack seemed like he believed my story about Jay. So I think everything will be swept under the rug and ignored. They seem to like doing that here." She tried to smile but failed.

He reluctantly accepted her explanation and put his hand on her bicep, ran his fingers down her arm and laced her fingers with his. "Come on, Lizzy, I need to go back to work, walk with me."

She pulled on his arm. "Wait, Red, did you get a hold of Dembe?"

He looked back and shook his head sadly. "He didn't answer his phone nor the two-way radio. I don't know what's happened to him, but I fear the worst. Unfortunately I can't afford to worry about him right now, we have to focus on finding that evidence on Jack."

"I'm sorry, Red, I know wh-" He cut her off.

"Lizzy, please, I would rather not talk about him at the moment." There was almost a pleading tone in his voice.

She just nodded and didn't saying anything, indicating to him that they should start walking.

She walked him back to the construction area and started to bid him farewell so she could go work in the other greenhouses, but before she could get out of his reach he pulled her flush with his body, took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and tenderly. It almost made her cry again at how tender he was. This was not the Red that she was accustomed to.

After a few moments he pulled away, tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and smiled faintly. "I'm sorry you had such a rough morning, Sweetheart." He looked at her sympathetically.

She remembered that she needed to "complain" about him kissing her when he wasn't supposed to (although she really was enjoying kissing him), and slugged him in the shoulder lightly. "Red, no one is watching, we don't need to pretend to be husband and wife."

He just shook his head and stepped back, "Lizzy, if you haven't figured out by now that I'm not "pretending" at anything, then you're never going to."

He walked away and went back to work, not looking back at her once.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. When did that situation suddenly become so serious?

She sighed and walked over to the other greenhouses, not looking forward to an afternoon of work.

Six o'clock rolled around and she was exhausted. She hadn't taken a lunch break, and just tried to lose herself in her work. She found that she enjoyed tending to the plants, and not having to talk to other people. It was calming. She avoided thinking about Jack and in turn Red, and their complicated situation. She was going to have to share a room with him after tonight and she was terrified that things between them could move to another level. She wanted it; but she didn't.

She walked to the woman's dorms and took a shower, standing under the hot water and letting the day's problems wash away with the water in the drain.

Her shoulder was really bothering her and she looked over at it. The bruises were now black and angry looking. She wondered if Jack had done some permanent damage to the muscles there. She had to make sure Red didn't ever see them.

She got out and finished getting ready, then walked over to the dining hall, hoping that Red was there. She found that she missed him and it had only been eight or nine hours since she had seen him. Ugh.

Liz walked inside and spotted him right away at their usual seat. She went and got her food then walked over to him. She wasn't sure what kind of reception she was going to get from him since they didn't part on the best of terms. She felt like she should apologize, but she honestly didn't know how to go about it without making him even more upset.

She walked over and sat down next to him. Close, but not too close. He was chewing on a roll and looked over at her when she sat down. He nodded in greeting, but he didn't smile and said nothing.

So he was still mad at her. She couldn't blame him really.

She sighed and started eating, she didn't know how to make things better, since it was him that usually did the apologizing.

She had never been very good at this kind of stuff. In her marriage it had always been Tom that had smoothed things over between them. So she was completely out of her element.

They sat there in silence while he finished eating and then he got up to put his dishes in the dirty pile. She watched him out of the corner of her eye and saw that he wasn't going to come back and sit by her.

She rolled her eyes at his childishness, stood up and hurriedly put her dishes away, and rushed to catch up to him before he could disappear into the dorms.

He was almost to the front doors. "Andrew!" She called out, hoping he would stop.

His steps faltered a little, but he kept walking.

"Andrew, please, I really need to talk to you." Her voice had taken on a pleading tone.

That did it. He stopped walking, but didn't turn around, his back stiff.

She caught up to him and walked in front of him, facing him.

He looked tired. He hadn't changed out of his work clothes and he had a thick five o'clock shadow growing on his face. She hadn't ever seen him with facial hair and thought he would probably look good with it.

He was looking at her expectantly.

She reached her hand up to his cheek and lightly ran her fingertips through his stubble. It was softer than she thought it would be. He closed his eyes.

"Red, please, you have to listen t-" He cut her off angrily.

"Elizabeth, I'm not going to continue to put myself and my feelings out there for you to keep shooting me down. So if you'd rather it be like this, then fine. You have to choose though. You can't just keep giving me a morsel then continually wrench the prize out of my reach."

She felt ashamed, he was right. She had to stop playing with his feelings. Not that she had been doing it on purpose, but still.

"Red to be fair, you've never told me what your feelings for me are exactly." She felt foolish even saying that. She knew already.

"Lizzy, I think my actions have told you more than any words that I could come up with, could."

He was right of course. She knew he had strong feelings for her, possibly even loved her. She still wasn't ready to commit to him completely though.

"Red, please let me think over some things tonight before I decide. Just one more night." She was pleading with him.

He sighed and nodded. "Ok, Lizzy, one more, but no more after that. I tire of my feelings being toyed with."

"Red, I'm no-" He held up his hand to silence her.

"I know, Liz, you have a husband that you need to decide what to do with. I'm trying to be patient. So this is where I'm going to bid you a good night and go to bed myself. I'm exhausted."

She nodded in resignation. She had some big decisions to make, and they still needed to find April, and find evidence to implicate Jack as well.

"I'll walk you to your room, Liz." His voice was flat and tired.

She shook her head, it was only a minute walk, she would be fine. "No, I'll be Ok, go ahead and go to bed."

She could tell he was going to object. "Really, It's like 500 feet."

"Fine, but please be careful, I can't have you being kidnapped or something equally as horrible."

She rolled her eyes and smiled faintly. He smiled back and leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, Sweetheart." Then he turned and walked inside, leaving her alone.

She turned around and started walking to her destination. Not seeing the man lurking in the shadows behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say how freaking good last night's episode was? Sooo good..and I feel even better shipping Lizzington now. Go watch it if you haven't yet! :) Thanks for the reviews and kudos for last chapter, it's fun to get feedback, and I truly do appreciate it. Thanks for reading and please review. Have a happy Tuesday (or Wednesday).


	13. Chapter 13

Liz walked towards the women's dorms deep in thought about Red, and what she was going to do about his ultimatum.

She didn't notice the shadow trailing after her, creeping closer and closer.

As she got to the darkest part of her walk back, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

She paused, trying to control her breathing while listening to the sounds around her. She didn't hear anything odd, but her gut was telling her that something wasn't right.

Liz started to turn her head to look behind her, but was forcefully tackled from behind. She was knocked face first into the grass, a heavy weight lying on top of her.

The wind was knocked out of her again for the second time in as many days, and she started gasping for breath, while trying to get whomever it was on top of her..off.

Her effort was futile though, because the person was too heavy for her to move, and they had her pinned down. Their knee in between her shoulder blades.

She felt them lean forward to her ear and in a snarling voice said, "Don't fight me, or I'll kill you."

At least she knew it was a man now, but she hadn't ever heard that voice before, so it wasn't someone who she had come across at the compound.

She nodded her head while her breath finally came back to her. She took deep breaths; as deep as she could, considering there was someone on top of her.

Liz laid still, not daring to move until she was sure he didn't have a knife or a gun.

He spoke again, his breath hot and reeking of alcohol, "I know who you are Elizabeth Keen. I know you aren't here with your real husband, and I know you're here with Raymond Reddington.." His voice took on a mocking tone, "The Concierge of Crime."

She had to try to deny his words, and gasped out breathlessly, "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm Kris-"

He cut her off angrily, "Shut the hell up, Bitch. I know you're lying, so just stop."

She closed her eyes in defeat. Dammit all to hell. "What do you want?"

"What I want is Raymond Reddington's help. I need to get out of here before I end up dead and I need Raymond to get me out of the country." His words were slurred and she wondered if he was drunk or under the influence of something else.

"What makes you think Reddington can help you?"

He laughed bitterly. "Oh, I know a great many things about Raymond. I've had dealings with him in the past and I know how well-connected he is"

She sighed, "And what makes you think he won't just kill you after he finds out what you want? If you know him at all, you know how over-protective he is with the people who are important to him."

He grunted in amusement, "I know he'll help, because I have information on the girl that you came here to find, and I'll only give it to him after he gets me out of here."

Liz was surprised, "April? Is she alive?" She didn't even want to know how the man even knew the reason they were at the compound.

"Ah, ah, ah..You're not getting anything until I speak with Reddington, and I'm using you as a shield so he doesn't kill me on sight."

She was confused, "Why do you want to leave here so badly? Life can't be that bad."

He laughed outright at that. "Oh, Baby. You have no idea. Jack is not the man that he appears to be."

She already knew that, but wasn't going to let on that she did. He got up off of her and Liz took deep breaths, trying to fill her lungs up. Her ribs were killing her.

"What I want you to do is go wake Raymond up and bring him out here. I don't need to remind you that I have information on April, so make sure and tell him that so he doesn't do something drastic before you get that information."

She turned over on her back and saw the man for the first time. He looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks and wore dirty clothes, had greasy brown hair and a long straggly beard. She felt disgusted that he had even touched her.

He held out his hand to help her up but she ignored it and got to her feet. Her ribs and face aching.

She glared at him and said, "Who are you anyway? Why are you here?"

His face fell from his mocking smile. "I'm not telling you anything. Just go get Raymond."

Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything else, she turned back towards the men's dorms and started walking. He called out to her in a sing-song voice, "I'll be waiting right here. Hurry back now."

Liz rolled her eyes in annoyance and walked inside the dorms. Hoping no one would be out to catch her sneaking around.

There was no one around though, and she walked up to Red's door. He had told her which room was his in case she needed him for something, for which now she was grateful.

She knocked quietly and waited. There was no sound of movement from the other side. She leaned her head back and sighed.

She knocked again, louder than she probably should have, but needed to make sure and wake him up. That did it, because she could hear the bed squeaking. She looked around nervously, waiting for him to open the door.

After another few seconds she heard him say through the door, his voice rough, "Who is it?"

She whispered loudly, "It's me Red, hurry and let me in."

The lock snicked and he opened the door for her. He was wearing flannel pajama pants and nothing else. She tried and failed not to stare at his bare chest.

He wasn't a small man by any means, nor was he very big. He had broad shoulders that she liked to admire in his dress shirts, but she never imagined he was this nice to look at under those shirts. He had the perfect amount of dark blonde chest hair too, which she had seen hints of when he unbuttoned the top of his dress shirts after a long day.

Liz just stood there, admiring him, her brain not able to form words.

He grabbed her arm, pulled her inside and shut the door behind him. Not giving her a chance to say why she was there, he pulled her to him and kissed her, open-mouthed and hot. She grunted in surprise, startled out of her reverie and kissed him back. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip, seeking permission, and she opened her mouth to let him in. He explored her mouth, running his tongue over her teeth and dueling with hers. After a few moments, she remembered why she was there, put her hands on his chest and pushed him back a little, "Red." She groaned.

He started kissing her jaw and was leaving a trail of small kisses down her neck, breathing hard. She let out a little sigh of pleasure, which seemed to encourage him and he moved his hands from where they had been clutching at her waist to underneath her shirt. He ran his hands up her ribs softly and splayed his hands on her stomach. She could feel the calluses on his hands.

Liz needed to stop him before they got carried away. She was here for a reason.

"Red", she said a little louder.

"Shh, Lizzy, just-", she cut him off.

"Red, we have a problem." That got his attention and he lifted his head from where he had been kissing her collarbone. His eyes were clouded with desire.

She grabbed his wrists that were under her shirt and pulled them out. He looked at her in confusion.

"Lizzy, what's going on?"

She sighed, he was going to go ballistic when she told him what had happened. "I was attacked walking bac-"

This time he cut her off, "Dammit." He stepped back and looked at her body, seeing her dirty clothes for the first time. "Are you hurt? I knew I should have escorted you back." He shook his head, anger in his eyes.

She shook her head, "I'm not hurt, Red, but he only attacked me to get to you. He knows we're not who we claim to be, and he also knows you personally, Red. He says that you've had dealings with each other in the past."

The anger was still in his eyes, "What does he want?"

"He wants your help to get out of the country. He knows that if anyone can do it, you could."

He furrowed his brows, "What's to stop me from killing him the moment we meet?"

She put her hand on his shoulder, still feeling a little light-headed from his scorching kisses.

"He says he has information on April. I'm inclined to believe him."

Determination and anger on his face, he walked over to his dresser, pulled a t-shirt out and pulled it over his head. He then pulled out a pair of jeans and dropped his pajama pants right in the middle of the floor, leaving him in his boxers.

Once again she tried not to stare, but was having a hell of a time trying to tear her eyes away. He had nice legs.

He pulled his jeans on, all business, not even commenting on her ogling of him and walked back over to her, putting his hand on the small of her back and leading her out of his room. The hallways were still dark and deserted.

They walked out into the night and Liz sped up and walked in front of him, leading him to where the man said he would be.

The man stepped out of the shadows as soon as they got close and she heard Red stop in his tracks. Her attacker spoke first, "Raymond Reddington, you old dog, it's good to see you again." There wasn't an ounce of sincerity in his tone.

Liz turned to Red and could see the anger in his eyes. His mouth a flat line.

He finally spoke up, his voice deep and deadly, "Ephraim Sharp. I thought I put a bullet in your head years ago."

Ephraim laughed, "Well you missed and killed my associate instead. No matter though, water under the bridge in my book."

Red had his hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched. "How dare you threaten Elizabeth. I can't even believe you were brave enough to show your face after what you did to her."

Ephraim smiled, "Oh Reddington, I could have done so much worse. You're lucky I need you or I would have killed both of you when I first recognized you." He walked towards them. "So do we have a deal? You get me out of the country and in exchange I give you the information you seek?"

Red shook his head, "Ephraim, I have no way to get you out without blowing our cover-"

Ephraim cut him off, his voice rising in anger, "I don't give shit about your cover. That's not my problem. You get me out, I give you the information. There is no compromise."

Liz spoke up, "How do we know that you'll give us the information?"

"I buried it in a box in the forest behind the administration building. Right where Red's associate, Luli, was killed."

Liz barely saw Red launch himself at Ephraim out of the corner of her eye and tackle him to the ground, pinning him. He was furious. "Did you kill Luli?"

"No! I didn't Red, I promise! It was someone else. I have no idea who though."

Red's voice was deadly. "You better be telling me the truth Ephraim, because if I do get you out of the country, and find out that you killed her, there will be no place on Earth that will be safe for you."

Ephraim looked at him fearfully, holding his hands up, "I swear, Red. I don't know anything about it."

Red seemed to accept his explanation reluctantly and stood up off of Ephraim. Casually dusting himself off.

He turned to Liz, "Lizzy, in my dresser there is a burner phone taped inside at the top of the second drawer. Will you get it for me please? I have some business with Ephraim that I need to discuss."

She wasn't in the mood to argue and went to retrieve his phone for him. Liz walked into his room and found the phone immediately, grabbed it out of its hiding place, and made her way back to Red.

She returned to them having a staring contest. Neither saying anything, while Red still looked beyond pissed off.

Liz handed him the phone and he nodded at her in thanks. Then turned to Ephraim. "I'll have my jet land in Grand Junction, and arrange for someone to pick you up a mile down the road from here and take you to the airport. Does that sound agreeable?"

"I'll take what I can get. As long as I'm long gone before Jack discovers that I'm missing." Red walked away to make the arrangements.

Liz still wanted answers from him. "Ephraim, why is-"

"I'm not saying another word. Just just shut up and quit asking me questions."

She sighed and gave up.

Red walked back, his face expressionless. "It's all arranged for. Your escort will be here within two hours, so you better get moving if you want to make it in time."

Ephraim smiled, "Thanks Raymond. I owe you one."

Red stalked over to him and grabbed his coat in his fist, "Make no mistake Ephraim, if I didn't need that information so badly you would already be dead for what you did to Elizabeth. You better be telling the truth about that information too, because like I said before, I will hunt you down if you're lying to me." His face was menacing.

There was fear for the first time in Ephraim's face, "I promise it's there, Raymond."

Red released him and stepped back towards Liz.

Ephraim grimaced, "Well, I'll be on my way then, good luck." Neither Red nor Elizabeth said anything, just glared at him.

He shrugged and walked away, disappearing in the darkness.

Red turned to Liz, his face concerned. "Are you sure you're ok, Lizzy?" She had been unconsciously rubbing her ribs over her shirt.

She grimaced, "I think I might have a cracked rib or two. My right side is killing me."

He grabbed her hand, "Come on, let's get you back to your room, we can worry about the box tomorrow."

She let him lead her and said, "You're really just going to let Ephraim leave like that?"

Red smiled faintly, "Lizzy, he'll never be able to completely disappear off my radar. I have ways to track him, and if we find out he lied to us, he'll be dead within days."

She shivered. It scared her sometimes at how callous he was talking about murdering another person.

He mistook her shiver as being cold and pulled her tight against his side, trying to warm her up. She smiled at him gratefully as they walked back to her room, trying to keep to the shadows so they wouldn't be discovered. She hadn't forgotten the warning Jack had given her.

They made it to her room without incident. He walked in with her, shut the door behind him and turned to her.

"Sweetheart, let me see your ribs." She just wanted to sleep.

"Red, they're fine. I'll live." She didn't sound convincing even to her own ears.

He shook his head and walked over to her, lifted her shirt up and started softly prodding her ribs.

He hit a tender spot and she gasped in pain. He looked up, sympathy in his eye, "Sorry, Lizzy. I'm surmising they're either cracked or very bruised. Either way, I'm going to wrap them, that should help you sleep."

She nodded and he walked over to her dresser and pulled out the first-aid kit that she always kept with her. He took out the ace bandage and proceeded to wrap her torso as tight as she could tolerate.

After he finished, he pulled her shirt down and pulled her into a loose embrace, trying not to hurt her further.

She relaxed into him, completely exhausted, wrapping her arms around his waist and putting her head on his shoulder. She felt him sigh.

"What's wrong, Red?"

"I just wish I could remain here with you tonight. I don't trust anyone at this compound."

She smiled, her head still on his shoulder. "I'll be fine, and I promise to lock my door. You better get going before you get caught and get us both in trouble, though." There was regret in her voice, and he picked it up.

He ran his hand through her hair, sighed and stepped back and looked her in the eyes. "Lizzy, about what happened in my room earlier-" She interrupted him.

"Can we talk about that tomorrow, Red? I'm dead on my feet." He blew a breath out of his mouth.

"Of course, Sweetheart. I'll take my leave then. Let me tuck you in."

Liz laughed, "I don't need anyone to tuck me in, least of all you."

"Nonsense."

There was no humor in his face as he put his hand on her back and led her to the bed.

She laid down on her left side and he pulled the covers over her.

He ran his hand over her forehead and leaned down and kissed her on the lips. Short and soft. Pulling back he said, "I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast. If you don't feel up to coming, I'll come over and make sure you're ok after I finish eating."

She smiled, "Thanks, Red."

"Think nothing of it. Sleep well, Lizzy, I lov-" He cut off his own sentence, grimaced and walked out of her room. Locking the door behind him.

She was too shocked at his almost declaration to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No cliffhanger this time..haha..thanks so much for the reviews everyone. Do you all want me to keep going? Or is the story getting tiresome? Let me know! I do appreciate the feedback. Thanks for reading and have a happy Thursday (or Friday).


	14. Chapter 14

Liz woke to the sound of her alarm and stretched her body out, and immediately curled her body inwards at the pain from her ribs. "Owwwwww!" They hurt so badly that she felt like she was going to be sick.

She hurried from her bed as fast as possible, trying to minimize jostling her ribs further, and speed walked into the bathroom; barely making it before throwing up the meager contents that were in her stomach.

She sat back and groaned, wiped her mouth with toilet paper and flushed the toilet. She really needed to find some painkillers.

Liz rinsed her mouth out at the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was a mess. Her hair was sticking up every which way and dirt was smudged on her face from her activities from the previous night. Her skin had a grayish tinge to it and her eyes were red-rimmed.

Liz felt absolutely hideous and her body felt like shit. She was really starting to regret coming to this damned compound. If finding April wasn't so important, she would have left after the incident with Jay.  
Deciding to take a shower, she walked back to her room and found Red sitting on her bed. He looked up at her and grimaced. "Are you ok, Lizzy? You look like hell."

Liz half sobbed, half laughed, "Thanks, Red." She closed her eyes, trying not to cry in front of him, because she had been doing that entirely too much lately. She wasn't normally this emotional.

"My whole body feels like its been hit by a dump truck." She stood there with her eyes still closed.

She heard him stand up, walk over to her and felt him cup her jaw with his hand, "Oh, Lizzy, I'm so sorry."

Opening her eyes, she saw the compassion in his face, and took deep breaths, trying to control her breathing.

She put her hand over the hand that was on her face and said, "I'll be Ok, Red, I just need some strong painkillers." He laughed softly and pulled her into a tender embrace, trying to be mindful of her aching ribs.

She went willingly and sighed, rubbing her hand over his heart, trying not to remember what he looked like under his shirt, and mostly failing.

Since it was a Saturday, and they didn't have to work their jobs, he was dressed in his usual white dress shirt with no tie, vest, slacks and a black belt. His vest and shirt cuffs were unbuttoned though, as if he had been in a hurry to get to her and didn't finish dressing.

After a few moments she felt like her emotions were finally under control and pulled back. She smiled and started buttoning up his vest for him. His shirt had come untucked in the front, so she started to tuck it back in for him. She was trying not to touch anything that she shouldn't, but must have accidentally brushed against him, because she heard a sharp intake of breath and then, "Lizzy, if you wanted to get fresh with me, all you had to do was ask." He was smirking.

She huffed a laugh, "Get fresh, Red? Does anyone even say that anymore?"

He smiled faintly, "I have no earthly idea, Lizzy, but the sentiment is the same." He was suddenly serious. "Have you thought anymore about what you're going to do about Tom and our situation?"

Liz looked down, sighed and started working on buttoning his cuffs, trying to delay her answer as long as possible. She finished entirely too soon, though, and looked up at him. He was looking at her expectantly.

She needed some answers from him first. "Red, you need to tell me what you know about Tom. I can't leave him without knowing for sure if he's some kind of super secret agent or if he's just the school teacher that he says he is."

He grimaced, "Liz, I can't tell you anything without compromising your safety. Can't you believe me when I say that he can't be trusted?"

She was annoyed, "Give me something to go on Red, please." Her voice had taken on a pleading tone.

He took her by her upper arms and leaned into her personal space, "Elizabeth, HE. CAN. NOT. BE. TRUSTED. He's not who you think he is, and he defiantly isn't just a school teacher. That's all I can and will tell you."

She could tell he was deadly serious, no teasing or mocking in his voice, and she felt completely devastated. Her whole life has been a lie. Tears welled up in eyes again. Dammit.

She angrily wiped them away and said, "I don't even know what to say to that, so I'm going to go take a shower and try to come up with something intelligent." She pulled out clean clothes, grabbed her bathroom kit off the top of the dresser and walked out. Neither of them saying a word to each other. He had just sat there with a closed off expression and watched her.

Liz was beyond pissed by the time she finished getting ready for the day. Her ribs were on fire by this point and she still didn't have any answers about Tom.

She stalked back into her room, ready to have it out with Red, and saw him lying down on her bed, stretched out with his hands behind his head, fast asleep on top of the covers. Her anger dissipated as fast as it had come, and she walked quietly into the room and studied him.

He looked younger and stress free with his face relaxed in sleep. Red was an attractive man, even if he was quite a bit older than her. That didn't matter to her though, because age was only a number when it came to love. Her thoughts halted at that thought. "Wait, do I love him?"

She didn't even have to think about it for long though, because she knew that she did love him. Completely. "I'm in love with Raymond Reddington", she thought. There was no question about it. She had never felt like this for any man, not even Tom, and that scared her to death, because she had only known him for such a short time. Eight months to be exact. And there was the little problem of him being a wanted criminal who had taken many lives and had done many unspeakable things. She didn't even want to think about that right now.

Liz had gone from hating him, to reluctantly trusting him, to being friends with him, and finally to loving him.

First things first though, they needed to find April, and then take down O'Sullivan before this compound ended up like his others. Their relationship could be more fully defined at a later date..after everyone was safe.

Convinced she had a good plan, and that Red would be agreeable to it, she walked over to the bed and sat down by his hip. He didn't stir and she figured he was probably exhausted since they hadn't gotten much sleep the last couple of nights. Plus he was still grieving over the loss of Luli and possibly Dembe.

She put her hand on his stomach and rubbed it up and down softly. He woke immediately and blinked open his eyes. He still looked tired.

Red grabbed the hand that was on his stomach and laced his fingers through hers. "Are you still angry with me Lizzy? Or do you finally see that I am only withholding information to protect you?"

She looked away, looking at anything but him, "I'm not angry anymore, but I still don't like that you're withholding things from me. Things that could really help with my decision about what to do with Tom."

He reached up with the hand that wasn't holding hers and used his index finger to move her face towards him, "Lizzy, you have to accept that it is only in your best interest that I withhold things from you. I don't like it nor enjoy causing you more stress and pain."

She nodded reluctantly and he dropped his hand and ran it over the top of his head.

Liz needed to tell him her "Plan" for them. "Red, I...I." She was struggling for the right words.

He tugged on her hand and she looked at him in question. "Come lie down by me Lizzy, I can barely keep my eyes open and you look ready to fall asleep yourself."

She really was tired and figured they could have that talk after they woke up. "Red, my ribs are killing me. I really need something to take the edge off the pain."

"Oh I'm sorry, I should have brought them to you in the bathroom. I returned to my room and found you some painkillers while you were taking a shower. They're over there on the dresser." He nodded his head in that direction.

She got up as fast as possible, walked over and saw the blessed things, thanking whatever higher power out there that Red had brought some with him to the compound.

She swallowed them dry and walked back over to where Red was lying. Almost tripping over his discarded shoes. She heard him huff a small laugh at her clumsiness.

He had scooted over to the edge closest to her, so that she could lie on her left side. She climbed over him as slowly as possible so she wouldn't knee him in any unfavorable place and laid down next to him.

He immediately turned towards her, put his right arm under her head and pulled her close with his other hand, being cautious of her injured right side.

She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her right arm around his waist, pulling him as close as possible to her. Her eyes were already drooping, she truly was tired.

She felt his warm breath on her cheek, smelling like peppermint toothpaste, as he said, "Sleep well, Lizzy. We'll talk some more after you wake."

She nodded as he leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, lingering for a few seconds, then pulled back and smiled faintly. "Sweet dreams."

She smiled back and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. Her sleep would be the best that she could remember having in a long while.

Liz awoke to Red softly prodding her ribs under her shirt, his fingers expertly exploring her injured side.

She groaned, "Red, what the hell are you doing? Are you trying to make me mad at you?..because you're doing a great job of it."

He smiled and said softly, "I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but you've been asleep for hours and I needed to take my mind off of the fact that I can't feel my right arm anymore, so I decided to see if I could feel any swelling."

"Sorry." She lifted her head and allowed him to pull his arm from under her head. He groaned in pain, as the pins and needles started up with a vengeance. "It's fine, Lizzy, you needed to sleep and I was happy to be here with you."

She rolled away from him on her back, his hand was still on her ribs and it went with her and ended up right under her bra. He didn't seem inclined to move it, and she found she didn't care as he started running his hand horizontally back and forth, soothing her and almost making her fall back asleep.

Her eyes were closed when he said, "Lizzy, I need to know what you've decided about us. I need to remove myself from this situation if you have decided that you're going to go back to Tom."

Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him with wide eyes. It was time to tell him. She was terrified.

"Red..I..I want to give us a chance. My feelings for you are unlike I've ever felt for anyone before and I'm putting my total faith in you when you say that Tom is not to be trusted. I'm going to be furious if you're lying about him."

"Lizzy-" She cut him off, putting her hand over his hand that was lying motionless on her stomach.

"Let me finish please." He went silent, looking at her expectantly. "I want to be with you, Red, but we need to focus on finding April and taking down Jack. That's the most important thing right now. When we get home, we can explore us, and how good we would be together in a different setting."

He was silent.

She turned her head to look at him, "What are you thinking, Red?"

He smiled widely, "Lizzy, are you honestly saying what I thought would only ever be a dream of mine?"

She smiled back faintly, suddenly nervous, "Red, I'm falling in love with you, and that terrifies me. I'm still married, and I don't want to betray Tom completely before I get a chance to talk to him."

He sighed, "So what does that mean Lizzy? Because you've already betrayed him in your heart."

Ouch. He didn't pull any punches when he wanted something badly enough.

She grimaced, "I agree, but I don't want to make love with you until everything with Tom is resolved and he's cut completely out of my life. I want to love you freely and not feel guilty about it."

He turned his body towards her and studied her. After a few moments he said, "If that's what you want, then that's what will happen. I don't want you feeling guilty every time we make love...and that's what it will be for me Lizzy. Love. I do love you, you must know that."

Tears welled up in her eyes, for the 4,000th time in four days. This situation was so messed up, but she didn't want to lose Red and was willing to sacrifice all she had had with Tom for him. At least Red felt the same about her as she did him.

She smiled and put her hand on his cheek, his face smooth, and pulled his head towards hers and kissed him softly and tenderly. He opened his mouth and deepened the kiss, and she groaned. He started to move up over her, and accidentally pushed on her injured ribs.

She gasped in pain and pushed him off of her. "Owww, Red. Ohhhhhh." They were on fire once again and she felt like screaming at the top of her lungs.

He sat up, "Lizzy, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot-"

She held up her hand for him to be quiet and said through clenched teeth, "It's fine, the pain will go away in a minute or two."

He nodded and sat there looking at her sympathetically, obviously hating that he couldn't do anything for her.

The pain finally dissipated somewhat and she sat up next to him on the edge of the bed. "I'm starving, Red. Is it lunchtime yet?"

He huffed a laugh and stood up, looking at his watch, "Right on time." He held his hand out to help her up.

Standing up she moved into him and hugged him to her, gently. "Thank you for being so understanding, Red."

He hugged her back and kissed her temple, "Lizzy, I've told you multiple times that I will take what you give me, and accept it, no matter what."

Holy shit, she loved this man. Flaws and all.

Liz put her arm around his waist, "Let's go eat, then go find that box so we can find April."

He put his arm around her shoulders, gesturing with his other hand, "Sounds like a plan, lead away."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Puts hands on face *…was that wayyyy too mushy? Too out of character? I thought it wasn't too much..but what do I know? Let me know what you think! BTW..I don't write smut..it's a personal choice..plus I would be horrible at it..sorry to disappoint but I do hope you continue to read despite that. Thanks so much for the reviews and kudos from last chapter..I love getting that much feedback and the general consensus is that you guys want me to keep going..so I will as long as you keep reviewing and telling me your theories and opinions..I love it! Have a fantastic Saturday (or Sunday).


	15. Chapter 15

They walked into the dining hall together and got in line to get their food. Liz looked to her right and saw Jordyn glaring at her from two tables over. She rolled her eyes and as Red put his hand on the small of her back, immediately saw Jordyn glance at that hand with contempt.

She turned to Red, who was studying his watch, leaned towards his ear and said, "Hey honey, you've got to tell Jordyn to back off. I'm tired of her shooting daggers at me every time she sees me because she thinks she has a chance with you."

Red didn't look up from his watch. "Kristen, I've never given that woman any reason to think I'm available. You and I are together all the time, we have rings on, and I've never even talked to her outside of this hall. What more would you have me to do?"

Liz sighed, "Oh I don't know..maybe tell her that you have no interest?"

He finally looked up from his watch and studied her in the way that she hated. As if he was looking into her very soul.

His mouth twitched in a half smile. "Sweetheart, I'm not going to tell her off. I have more important things to worry about. If you don't like it, you can go talk to her yourself. Although, I must say that I like this jealous side of you", he leaned forward and put his lips on the shell of her ear, his voice smooth and an octave lower, "It's sexy as hell." He kissed her ear before he pulled back and smirked at her.

She closed her eyes and tried to control her physical reaction to his proximity. She needed to learn to control herself better in public. He made it so damn hard sometimes.

Opening her eyes, she looked back over to where Jordyn had been and saw that she was no longer there. That made her nervous. Liz didn't trust that Jordyn wouldn't try to physically hurt her to get to Red. There were some crazy people at the compound.

She looked back at Red, who was once again studying his watch. "Andrew, what's so interesting about your watch?"

He glanced up, a perplexed look on his face. "I don't think this is my real watch. It's a good replica, but it's definitely not mine."

She was confused, "Who would have stolen your watch..and why?"

He shrugged, "I brought two different watches with me here, and I had been wearing my other one. Today is the first time I've worn this one. I think the person who searched my luggage switched it out. As to the reason, I've no clue. Just one more mystery to add to the already abundant amount we've come across at this damned compound." His face turned pouty. "That watch was expensive." Liz didn't know how to make him feel better, so she said nothing, but gave him a sympathetic look and turned back to focus on the moving line

They got their food and sat down to eat. Liz was starving and started eating right away.

As she was eating a potato chip, she saw Red turn towards her. She looked at him questioningly but he didn't notice because his eyes were studying the scratches on her arms that she had gotten when Jay had dragged her through the forest. They were starting to heal, but still were red and angry looking. Even though she had had a sweater on, it was thin enough that it hadn't provided much protection.

He touched one of them with a finger. "Andrew, stop. That hurts."

Red glanced up at her, an angry look on his face. "Every time I look at these, my blood boils, and I want to kill him all over again."

She put her hand on his, which was still resting on her arm. "I've been meaning to ask you but other things have prevented that the last couple of days. How did you know I was in trouble? And how did you find me?"

He grimaced, "I was walking towards the greenhouses because I needed to talk to you about something..I don't have the faintest idea about what now, and happened to glance towards my left and saw you and Jay walking into the trees. You had to be a least ¾ of a mile away and they only way I could tell it was you was because Jay was so tall and you were so short in comparison to him. I hurried as quickly as I could, but it still wasn't fast enough. For that I'm sorry." He had a pained expression on his face.

She put her hand on his face, feeling the stubble that was just starting to grow and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "It's done and it's not your fault. I would be dead if you hadn't saved me, so stop blaming yourself. It's not becoming of you."

He pulled back and smiled faintly, "I'll do my best, but no promises." She released his hand and they both turned back to their meals. Liz finally felt like she could put that incident to rest and worry about other things. Namely where the hell April was.

They finished eating and walked outside, Liz walking slightly in front of him with him being content to let her lead.

It was a beautiful day, with wispy clouds floating lazily across the sky and a slight breeze blowing through her hair. Spring was definitely on winter's doorstep, and for that she was grateful because she hated the cold.

She stopped and turned to him, "Should we go get that box now? I'm afraid we're already too late."

He had his sunglasses on and she couldn't see his eyes. She suspected he did that on purpose.

"I think it would be prudent to retrieve it now rather than wait until dark again and get caught. We can just make it look as if we're just taking a walk."  
She nodded and started walking towards the Administration building. He sidled up to her, grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. She could feel his wedding band digging into the side of her finger, but didn't mind because it reminded her of future possibilities with him. They just needed to stay alive long enough for that to happen.

They passed a few of the compound members, who just nodded their heads in greeting and didn't stop to chat. Liz was grateful that people here weren't inclined to start up conversations.

As they walked past the Administration building they saw Kitty go inside, not seeing Red and Liz walk by. Liz was suspicious of her, especially since she told Jack about finding them in the forest when she said she wouldn't. Her shoulder ached just thinking about that meeting.

They walked for fifteen minutes or so in silence and came up to the place where Luli had been murdered. The first thing Liz saw was a small pile of dirt and groaned internally. They were too late. She let go of Red's hand, walked closer and saw that there was indeed an empty hole where the box was supposed to have been. Someone beat them to it. She couldn't help but suspect Kitty or Jack, but had no proof.

"Dammit, Red, we're too late!"

He walked to her side and looked down at the hole with an unreadable expression on his face. "Lizzy, this confirms my suspicions that we're being watched and followed. There's no way anyone could have known about this box unless they overheard us talking about it last night with Ephraim."

Liz nodded, "Or maybe they saw Ephraim burying it and decided to dig it up once he left."

Red clenched his jaw and furrowed his eyebrows. "It's possible, but unlikely. There's nothing left for us to do but try to find evidence in O'Sullivan's office, and hope to find the box there as well."

She shook her head in exasperation, "Red, we already tried that once, and if you remember that didn't go very well."

His frown deepened, "Lizzy, don't be contemptuous with me. I'm merely suggesting other options as we don't seem to have many at this point."

She felt bad, but wasn't going to apologize. "Well we're going to have to wait a night or two, because they're probably watching us even closer after last night. Plus tonight is the night that we get to stay in the same room."

"You're correct. While we wait to infiltrate O'Sullivan's office, we can walk around the compound and look for her. Just because we haven't seen her at meals doesn't mean anything. Maybe she's on bed rest because of her pregnancy."

He had a point. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry for being short with you, Red. This whole situation has just gone FUBAR. I'm worried for her, but I'm also worried about the other people at this place, they don't know what's in store for them if we can't help."

He pulled her close and rubbed small circles on her back. "We're going to find April, Lizzy, and then we're going to take O'Sullivan down. There's no chance I'm leaving this place until Jack is dead or arrested."

She pulled back from his embrace and grimaced. She appreciated his reassurances, even if they were empty because he couldn't guarantee anything.

Her ribs were starting to ache again and she was feeling a little dizzy. "I think we need to go back and pack up our rooms. I'm not feeling very well again."

He nodded, put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side. Both for support and because he wanted to be as close to her as possible.

As they broke through the treeline, with Liz relying on Red's support more and more, they "ran" into Jordyn.

Liz groaned internally. What was wrong with this woman?

"Hey Andrew, how are you today?" She hadn't even acknowledged Liz.

Liz spoke up before Red could say anything, "We're both fine, thanks for asking."

Jordyn glared at her and then addressed Red again, "So Andrew, they're holding a community dance tonight and I was wondering if you would be my date?"

Was she serious?

Liz rolled her eyes and waited for Red to say something. "Jordyn, as much as I appreciate the offer, I rather think I'd like to take my wife." He was trying to let her down gently. The bastard.

Jordyn's face became pouty and in a semi-whiny voice she said, "Oh, Ok. I just thought our conversations were fascinating and wanted to talk to you more. I guess I can understand why you can't take me." She glared at Liz.

Liz smirked and put her left hand on Red's chest, slipped her fingers inside his vest and shirt, and scratched his stomach lightly with her fingernails. Red's arm tightened around her waist at her teasing and she smiled internally. Score one for herself.

She turned back to Jordyn, who was staring open-mouthed at Liz's hand, and smiled faintly. "I'm not feeling too well Jordyn, so we're going to go now." She nodded her head in the direction of the dorms.

Jordyn's eyes narrowed, but she nodded and watched them pass her with obvious anger on her face.

******************

After they passed, Jordyn's face turned to dark amusement. Everything was coming together perfectly. These people had no idea. She was going to get back at Kristen for taunting her. Nobody taunts Jordyn White and gets away with it.

******************

Red and Liz made it back to her room and she collapsed on the bed as soon as she kicked her shoes off.

She felt horrible again. "Red, do you have anymore of those pills?"

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a little baggy full of pills. She had never been so grateful to see so many illegally possessed drugs in one place at one time. He pulled out two and handed them to her. She swallowed them dry and laid back down with a sigh.

They still hadn't found any new information, and it felt like they were back to square one.

Red was standing in front of her, looking thoughtful with his hands in his pockets. "Lizzy, I think we should attend the dance tonight. It's possible April will attend or maybe we can find some more information about her whereabouts."

She laid her head back and looked up at him, "I agree, Red, but let me sleep for a few hours and hopefully I'll feel up to going by then." She smiled faintly. "Why don't you go pack your things, then come back and help me pack mine."

He nodded, looking concerned for her once again. She tried to reassure him. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Red huffed a small laugh, "Oh sweetheart, I always worry about you. Especially since you're so beat up at the moment." His face darkened once again at the thought.

"Go pack your things, Red. I'll see you in a few hours. Be careful yourself, Ok?" She smiled up at him.

He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. His lips were warm and slightly chapped from the wind outside, not that she minded. He moved his lips up to her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair tenderly, then stood up.

"I'll be back soon. Sleep well, Lizzy."

She was curious if he would tell her he loved her. He hesitated and opened his mouth as if to say it, but didn't, and smiled at her before walking out of the room with his usual confident stride. Locking the door behind him.

Liz sighed and turned over to her left side. Her right shoulder and ribs were still killing her, but she could feel the pull of sleep and soon succumbed to it. Falling into a dreamless sleep.

******************

Liz awoke to the bed dipping as someone sat down next to her hip and put their hand on her side gently. She knew it was Red immediately because she could smell his aftershave.

She smiled without opening her eyes and stretched her arms over her head, trying not to hurt her ribs too much. "Mmmm..you smell good."

He laughed softly and she opened her eyes to see humor in his eyes. "I guess all I need to do to get you to do what I want is to slap some aftershave on, huh? Good to know for future reference."

Liz rolled her eyes and sat up gingerly. There was still pain, but it was significantly better than it had been earlier.

He stood up and held out his hand for her to take. She took it and stood up into his embrace as his arms wrapped completely around her and his chin was on top of her head. "Are you feeling any better, Lizzy?" She could feel the vibrations of his deep voice through his chest and it calmed her even more.

She spoke into his neck, "Yeah, I am. I definitely want to go to the dance tonight, if only to hopefully find out something about April."

He hummed in agreement. She would stay in his embrace all day if she could, but time was running short and they still needed to pack her things and talk to Kitty about moving to the married dorms.

"Red, we need to talk to Kitty about movi-" He cut her off.

"It's already done. My things are already there, so we just need to get your things over there and get ready for the dance."

She was glad she didn't have to deal with Kitty. There was something seriously off with that woman.

Liz pulled out of his embrace and nodded at him with a smile. She walked over to her dresser, and pulled everything out of it while Red grabbed her suitcase out of the closet.

It wasn't going to take long to pack since she didn't bring that much stuff in the first place.

Almost finished, and only having her underclothes to pack, she tried her best to hide what she was doing from him. He teased her for that. "Don't be such a prude, Lizzy, it's not anything I haven't seen before and it won't be the last."

She blushed and hurriedly stuffed everything else into her suitcase, not caring about neatness. She could see Red clench his jaw at that. He was such a neat freak.

Liz checked everywhere else to make sure she hadn't left anything and nodded to Red that she was ready. He grabbed her suitcase from the bed and walked out of the room, leaving her to close the door behind her. She walked quickly to catch up to him and they walked side by side over to the third set of dorms.

They arrived within minutes and Red led her down the hallway to a room at the end. She was glad they at least got one wall of privacy with no one on the other side.

He unlocked the door and let her go in first, gesturing with his head.

She smiled in thanks and walked inside the room. It looked a lot like the one she had just left, in fact the only difference was that the bed was a queen size instead of a twin.

Red walked in behind her and whispered in her ear, "Welcome home, Lizzy." His breath was hot, and made the hairs on her neck stand up. She had goosebumps on her arms too, but she convinced herself it was because she was cold. Yep, freezing cold.

"It's...nice, I guess." She smiled sarcastically.

He huffed a small laugh, put her suitcase on the bed and looked at his watch, "It's 5:30 right now, I found out that the dance starts at 6:00, so we have plenty of time to get ready. I'm going to go take a shower if that's ok with you?"

She nodded and watched as he gathered clean clothes and his bathroom kit, then smiled at her and walked out the door.

Liz let out the breath she had been holding. This situation was going to make it hard for her to resist Red and his charms. She had to be careful that they didn't go too far.

She walked over to her suitcase and pulled out the stuff that she needed, decided to take a shower herself and walked to the women's bathroom.

She opened the door to their bedroom, not thinking to knock, and found Red standing there with just a towel around his waist and his chest still wet from the shower. She blushed, looked down and mumbled, "Sorry, Red, I forgot to knock."

He laughed, walked over to her and pulled her out of the doorway. "Not a problem, Lizzy. Just be glad I still had my towel on." He winked and smiled wider as her blush turned deeper.

Finally recovering from her embarrassment, she walked over to her suitcase and pulled out a nice pair of black dress pants and a long sleeved purple blouse. She didn't think to bring a dress, but didn't mind because it was going to be a little chilly outside where the dance was being held.

She turned to Red after a few moments and saw that he had at least pulled on black trousers, but was still shirtless. Boy did he look good too.

Liz tried not to stare as he pulled on a dress shirt and left it unbuttoned, then turned to her.

"Are you going to get dressed or are you going to stare at me all night?" He was smirking now.

Damn him.

"Sorry, Red, must be the pain killers messing with my head making me think you look awfully good just like that." She gestured with her hand at his unbuttoned shirt and smirked back.

He grinned wolfishly and started walking towards her, with clear intent in his eyes at what he was going to do to her once he got close enough.

She laughed and held her hands up, "Not now, we need to hurry and get ready."

He was still slowly walking towards her. "I'm almost ready, Lizzy, it's you that needs help removing your clothes to change."

Red walked close to her, put his hands on the hem of her shirt and tugged a little. He looked at her for permission and she nodded a little. Not trusting her voice.

He slowly pulled her shirt over her head, trying to be careful of all of her injuries. After removing it he threw it on the bed and looked back at her.

His eyes went hard, "Elizabeth, what the hell are those?" He was pointing at her shoulder.

She had forgotten about the bruises.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Thanks so much for the reviews and kudos from the last chapter. The general consensus was that it was a little bit OOC..which after re-reading it..I tend to agree. Oh well! Hopefully this chapter is a little more in character. Please tell me what you think about this chapter..feedback only helps me improve as writer. I want to become as good as some of the other writers in The Blacklist fandom. I'm jealous of them actually, because they're so darn good. Anywho, sorry for the rambling..have a fantastic Monday (or Tuesday).


	16. Chapter 16

Liz put her up her hands defensively, "Red-" , He cut her off before she could explain, his eyes hard as flint.

"I know those weren't there after Jay attacked you, and I know I sure as hell didn't give them to you...", He paused, leaned in closer to examine the bruises, and softly traced them with his index finger. "I can only surmise that O'Sullivan did this to you. Why didn't you tell me Lizzy?" His eyes were still hard, no trace of the playful, soft side of Raymond Reddington was present.

She grimaced, there was no way she was going to tell him the truth, "Red, Jack didn't do this to me, I was walking in one of the greenhouses and I ra-". He cut her off again and grabbed her tightly by her biceps. This time there was no mistaking his fury. "Elizabeth! Do. Not. Lie. To. Me. I'm not stupid. Those are finger marks. So why don't we try this again, what happened?"

Liz closed her eyes in defeat, she was going to have to tell him. She wasn't a good enough liar, and he was an expert in detecting liars. "You have to believe that I didn't tell you because I was trying to keep you safe."

Red snorted, "I don't need you to protect me, my job is to protect you, not the other way around." He was still gripping her arms tightly, but not enough to hurt her.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to cry,"You don't understand, Red. He threatened to kill you if I told anyone about-"

He dropped his hands from her arms and sat down heavily on the bed, his shirt still unbuttoned. "Lizzy I can take care of myself, I've dealt with my fair share of murderers and criminals, stop trying to protect me."

She stood in front of him, and tried to come up with a response that wouldn't make him even more angry.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you, but he threatened you and I didn't know what to do but try to protect the one thing I care about the most at this compound."

He had been staring at the dresser with eyes that were still hard and unreadable, but at her words his eyes softened a fraction and he looked up at her, sighing. "Tell me what happened." There wasn't a question in his voice, just a command.

She moved to the head of the bed and sat down, sitting as far away from him as she could. "There's nothing to tell, Red. We talked about my life, then he asked me about Jay and he seemed to accept my explanation. I got up to leave, but he grabbed my shoulder and said that he had heard about us being in the woods after curfew, and that we don't want to find out what happens to people that break the rules, and that I better not tell you about his "warning"." She wasn't going to tell Red about Jack nuzzling her neck, because there would be no safe place on this Earth for Jack if she did. They needed to find April before Red got his hands on him.

Red stood up, not showing any outward appearance of being angry besides his clenched fists and jaw. "That damn Kitty woman, I KNEW she wasn't to be trusted. After I'm finished with Jack, she's going to get what's coming to her."

Liz had to make sure Red knew now wasn't the time to go after them. "Red, you can't go after Jack yet, we still have to find April. That's the most important thing."

He didn't look at her and ran his left hand over his head, his wedding band glinting in the light from above. He seemed to be thinking over what she said, so she stayed silent, playing with a loose string on her pants. She still hadn't put a shirt on, and was sitting on the bed in just her bra.

After a minute or two he turned to her, "OK, I won't go after him until after April is found, but no promises after that." He still had a hard look in his eyes.

She nodded. Liz didn't have much choice but to accept the fact that he was most likely going to kill more people. It only served to remind her of how dangerous this man could be, and she honestly didn't know how it was going to work between them once they returned home. She wasn't going to run from the law just to be with him.

She felt him touch her shoulder and startled. She hadn't even noticed that he had walked over to her.

"Liz, it's ten after six, we need to get going. I'm not ready to go, and you definitely aren't." He was eying her shirtless torso.

She blushed and crossed her arms over her chest then stood up off the bed. "Yeah...I'll finish up really fast."

He was doing the staring thing with her again and she smiled faintly, "Finish getting ready, Red. Then we can go."

He stared at her for a few more seconds and apparently saw something in her face that satisfied his questions because he turned to finish getting ready, both lost in their own thoughts.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Red and Liz walked outside into the cool air. She had on a thick long-sleeved blouse, but she still felt the chill of the early evening air. Red had dressed in a white Oxford shirt with a silver tie, blue vest and gray trousers; with an all-purpose navy blue jacket to complete his ensemble. She loved that he always dressed nice.

They could see the dance going on in the distance, with multiple fires having been lit and illuminating everyone dancing around having a good time.

She put her hand on Red's elbow to stop him, "Hey Red, make sure you ask around about April, without actually "asking" about her, you know what I mean?"

"Of course Elizabeth, you don't need to remind me." He was obviously still upset with her for lying to him and started walking again, leaving her behind.

She hurried to catch up to him, not wanting to be left alone in the dark for too long. "Red, you can be mad at me all you want. I'm not going to apologize."

He glanced over at her, his face not betraying any of his real emotions. "I wouldn't expect you to Lizzy."

At least he was calling her by her nickname and not her full name anymore. That was progress.

She sighed and decided to quit trying to get him to talk to her. He would get over it eventually. They made it to the edge of the dance area and multiple people started walking towards them with smiles on their faces.

She didn't feel like socializing but had to put on a good front, so she smiled as a young woman with white-blonde hair walked up to her. "Hi, I'm Jolene. Would you like to come and sit with all of us women and tell us about yourself? We haven't had a chance to meet yet." She was way too enthusiastic for Liz's liking, but this was the perfect opportunity to possibly find out more information about April. "Of course, I've been looking forward to meeting new people." Liz's voice sounded fake even to her own ears, but Jolene didn't seem to notice and grabbed her arm, leading her away from Red.

She glanced back at him questioningly, and he nodded at her, letting her know with that nod that he would be fine. There were men walking up to him introducing themselves, so she didn't feel guilty leaving him on his own. Hell, the man had been alone for much of the past twenty years, so he could handle it.

Jolene led Liz over to a group of women who were sitting around a small fire pit. She smiled, sat down in an empty chair and put her hands near the fire. It was getting colder and her hands were like icicles. Most of the women were looking at her curiously, but no one said anything.

She scanned the women to see if any of them were April, but of course none of them were. She needed to get them talking. "Hey everyone, I'm Kristen. What's all your names?" The women went around the circle and introduced themselves. Most of them seemed friendly, but a couple were aloof and didn't speak up. Liz wondered why, but didn't have time to ponder it because one of the older women said, "So are you married or did you come here alone?"

Liz smiled, "Oh, I came here with my husband, Andrew." She turned in her chair and spotted Red in conversation with a few men. Liz pointed to him and said, "That's him in the jacket and tie over there."

She turned back to the women, most of whom were looking at Red with interest. Probably wondering why she was with someone so much older than her. Of course no one asked and she didn't offer any more information.

Liz was done with the small talk. She needed information. "So...are there any other women from the compound that aren't here tonight or is everyone here? I only ask because I want to meet everyone, if possible." She smiled her most convincing smile.

The same older woman, Clara if she remembered correctly, spoke up, "There are a few that aren't in attendance tonight. Most of them are older and are either too sick or can't physically walk here."

That was too vague of an answer. "So we're just missing some older women, all the younger ones are here?"

Clara's smile froze, a strange look overcoming her features. "Yes, all the younger women are here..." She didn't offer any other information, but her sentence sounded unfinished, and Liz didn't believe one word of it. She was obviously lying and Liz wanted to know why.

Now wasn't the time to ask though, because she didn't want people to become more suspicious of her than they already were. She had to toe a fine line.

Liz smiled and nodded, "That's great, I hope I get to meet everyone." Clara's face relaxed, as if she thought Liz was going to question her further and was relieved that she didn't.

Another woman, Tara, spoke up from the other side of the fire pit, "So tell us about yourself Kristen. You're one of the newest members and none of us know anything about you."

Liz internally sighed, sat back in her chair, and told everyone her "fake" life story. She thought it sounded convincing and no one was looking at her like they thought she was lying, so that was good enough in her opinion.

They all sat around for another twenty minutes or so, just making small talk, when she saw Jack step up onto the band stage. He moved the microphone up to his height and smiled. There was still no warmth in his smile or in his eyes. "I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out and making this get together so much fun. It's also a great way for you newbies to get to know everyone else." He looked at Liz when he said that, his blue eyes icy and penetrating. Liz looked away after a moment and he continued, looking away from her, "We'll wrap this up in a couple of hours, but in the meantime eat some food, dance and meet some new people." He smiled again and stepped away from the microphone while people started clapping and cheering.

After the clapping died down and Jack had stepped off the stage, the music started playing again and people started pairing off to dance to the slow song that was playing.

Liz turned in her chair and searched for Red. He was dancing with Jordyn, and Liz groaned. Red obviously didn't want to dance with her, because he was stiff and barely moving while Jordyn was trying to hug him close to her.

Liz decided to take pity on him, even though they weren't currently on speaking terms, and got up to rescue him. Before she could walk away from the group of women, someone spoke up, "Be careful of Jordyn, Kristen. She's very possessive." She turned back to the women, not seeing who had spoken up, and smiled. "Thanks for the warning. I've told her multiple times to stay away from Andrew, but she won't listen." Some of the women chuckled but didn't say anything more, so Liz turned and walked towards her "husband".

Red saw her as he turned and the profound expression of relief on his face made Liz laugh out loud. She tried to wipe the smile off of her face as Jordyn turned to her as well and said coldly, "What do you want Kristen?" This woman was crazy.

Liz smiled, "What I want is to dance with my husband. Think I could cut in?"

Jordyn looked like she was going to refuse, but Red interrupted, "Of course, Honey." He let go of Jordyn and held his hand out to Liz, "Can I have this dance?" Liz took it and he swept her into his arms, pulling her flush with his body and wrapping both arms around her waist. Liz looked back at Jordyn and was shocked at the look of hatred on her face as she turned away to go sit on the sidelines, once again being rejected by Red. Liz didn't know how that situation was going to play out, but they needed to be very careful around Jordyn.

Liz turned her attention to Red, who still hadn't said anything to her, and put her hand on his cheek. "Red, are you still giving me the silent treatment?"

She felt more than heard him sigh because their bodies were so close to each other. "No, and I wasn't giving you the silent treatment. That's something petulant children do. I was simply trying to get past my anger at you. I'm about over it now."

Their faces were inches apart as they spoke. She had her arms looped around his neck and he still had his arms around her waist, their bodies close and swaying to the music playing in the background.

Liz smiled, "Well I'm glad." She really wanted to kiss him, but felt like he wouldn't be welcoming to it at the moment, so she decided against it.

He smiled faintly, obviously not completely over his anger, "Have you found any information regarding April?"

She sighed, "Not really. I asked if everyone was here at the dance tonight and they told me that everyone but the older people are here. Then I asked if all the young people were here and they told me yes, but were obviously lying. I don't know what to think, Red. I feel like we're not going to find her alive."

He pulled her closer, put one of his hands on the back of her neck and kissed her temple. "We'll find her, Lizzy."

She laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. "Did you find anything out yourself?"

He huffed a laugh, "Other than where the good make-out spots are, No, no one seems to know anything."

She smiled, her head still on his shoulder, "Well, I guess we're going to have to search O'Sullivan's office then. I don't know what else to do."

He nodded in agreement and they danced, not paying attention to anyone around them, especially Jordyn, who was staring at Liz murderously.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

After another two hours of dancing and eating it was time to return to their room. Liz was exhausted and more than ready to be done. She and Red had made progress repairing their relationship, but it still wasn't where it had been.

They said their goodbyes and started walking back to their room. She was freezing cold, and Red took his jacket off and slipped it over her shoulders. She smiled at him gratefully and wrapped the jacket around her as Red put his hand on the small of her back and started leading her back to their room.

They walked past a big bush and heard someone say quietly, "Hey, I have information that you're looking for."

Red stopped and stepped in front of her in a protective stance. "And what information is that?"

The person didn't say anything for a moment, then more loudly said,"I know you're looking for a young pregnant girl and I know where she is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't mean to end my chapters on cliffhangers. It just seemed like the best place to stop. I have to get up in 3 hours for CrossFit..haha. So don't throw things please. :) Thanks so much for the reviews and kudos from the last chapter. I really do appreciate them. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. We're going to start getting into some action here soon. Reviews help spur me on past my writers block. Thanks for reading.


	17. Chapter 17

Red stalked into the bush and came out dragging a protesting girl by the arm. "Hey! Stop!" She was trying to pull her arm out of his grasp, but wasn't having any success. He didn't pay any attention to her pleas as he came to a stop in front of Liz, still holding the girl's bicep.

Liz glared at Red, admonishing him with her expression at how over dramatic he was being. He just shrugged, pursing his lips.

She turned to the girl with a smile, trying to calm the frazzled her, "Hi, I'm Kristen. What's your name?"

The girl looked to be no more than eighteen with long hair, but it was dark enough that she couldn't see any facial features. She gave Red a dirty look, "I'm Haley." She didn't offer any other information and stood glaring at them, still surreptitiously trying to pull her arm away from Red.

Liz walked over to Haley, took her gently by her other arm and led her away from Red who seemed to understand what Liz's intent was, and let her go without a protest; maybe she would offer more information if it was just Liz asking the questions. It was worth a shot. "Haley, what do you know about the pregnant girl?"

Haley sniffed and hesitated, clearly debating what to tell Liz, but finally started to speak after a few seconds, "They brought April in a day or two before you guys showed up. She was assigned to my room. Everything was great the first night and we became fast friends. I didn't care that she was pregnant, I was just glad to have a friend." Her face crumpled as if she was going to cry, but she quickly composed herself, "The next day we went our separate ways; I went to do my job and she went to get assigned a job. That night she came back to the room looking exhausted and scared, but I figured it was just from the baby and all, so I didn't ask if everything was ok. We went to sleep and the next thing I knew there were men in our room taking April from her bed. She wasn't protesting or anything and her body was like..limp. They must have drugged her! I was so scared that I pretended to be asleep until they left, then I got dressed as fast as I could and followed them as they took her into the woods behind the greenhouses. We walked for a long time and came up to like..a small building that didn't look like it would fit all of them. They took her inside and never came back out the hour or so that I waited around. I was so scared that they would find me that I hurried back to our room and tried to forget what I saw." Liz could see tears glistening in her eyes from the moonlight.

Red walked over and put a hand on Liz's back moving it up and down softly, indicating he wanted to ask Haley a question. Liz turned her head to him and nodded slightly, confident that Haley would answer.

In a soft, rumbly voice Red said, "Haley, how did you know we've been searching for April?" Liz had wondered the same thing but hadn't had a chance to ask.

Haley glared at Red again, clearly still upset over how she was treated by him. She looked at Liz and at her nod said, "I walked past you guys while you were dancing and I happened to hear the words "April" and "look for"..so I just like..put two and two together and figured you could help. Who is she to you guys?"

Liz looked at Red and he smiled softly at her, then turned to Haley, "She's my niece. We've been searching for her for a while and found out that she came here. We simply came here to check on her and make sure she was doing Ok so we could inform her parents."

Haley narrowed her eyes, "So you were going to make her go back with you?"

Liz smiled, "No, she's eighteen so she's old enough to make her own decisions. Her parents were worried so we volunteered to come to the compound and check on her. We needed a vacation anyway." She moved closer to Red and slipped her arm around his waist, rubbing her hand up under his vest for a few seconds.

He looked down at her with a twitch of his lips, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

They needed to go tonight and try to find April, she'd already been with her captors for three or four days, who knew what they'd been doing to her all this time. "Haley, do you think you could take us to where they took April? Tonight?

Haley shook her head fearfully, "No, not tonight. If anyone gets caught out of bed after curfew like..bad things happen. I've seen people get food taken away from them for three days and have to scrub the floors with their toothbrushes. It's not worth it." Her voice went softer and Liz had to lean closer to hear what she was saying. "I'll take you tomorrow morning after breakfast. It's Sunday, so we don't have to work, and church doesn't start until five, so no one will miss us for hours."

Liz didn't like that they had to wait another night, but it was probably for the best. Just thinking about Jack's warning scared her enough to wait until morning.

"I'll meet you guys down by the greenhouses at like 8 am..is that ok?"

Liz nodded and grimaced, "I guess it's going to have to do. Thank you for being willing to help us, we can't thank you enough, and I know her parents will appreciate it too."

Haley nodded with tears back in her eyes, "She's my friend too, I just want to know if she's ok."

Red had been mostly silent during the conversation, choosing to sit back and listen rather than antagonize Haley even more but said, "We'll see you tomorrow, be careful going back to your room and don't get caught."

Her features softened a little as she smile faintly at Red, "Thanks, you guys too." Then walked into the darkness, not looking back.

Liz sighed, removed her arm from around his waist, and began walking, "Let's get back to our room, this place gives me the creeps."

He rumbled an agreement and followed her back to the dorms.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

They returned to their room within minutes, and as soon as the door was shut Liz walked over to the bed and flopped on her back, sighing. She was really worried about April, and had doubts that she was even still alive. She had been eight months pregnant so she wasn't too far away from giving birth and...

She was startled out of her disconcerting thoughts by Red, who had sat down by her hip and placed a hand on her upper thigh, running his hand up and down it a few times to get her attention.

Liz didn't sit up, but lifted her head up and looked at him in question. "What?"

He was looking at his watch, with his hand still on her thigh, "It's past eleven, Lizzy, and we have to get up early. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."

He really did look tired, and she suspected that she looked the same. She nodded, "I am tired, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to sleep."

He nodded sympathetically and patted her knee, "I suspect you'll find it easier to sleep than you think."

Red stood up and held a hand out to help her up and she reluctantly took it, standing up to get ready for bed.

She walked over to her suitcase and pulled out her pajamas, which consisted of sweats and a tank top, and turned to see Red removing his vest and shirt leaving him in a white undershirt. She really needed to stop staring at him every time he undressed.

He caught her staring again and slowly started unbuckling his belt, smirking. She swallowed hard and turned around to get changed herself, trying not to think about him taking his pants off and whatever else he was planning on removing. She heard him huff a small laugh. Damn him.

She quickly removed her clothes, put her pajamas on and turned back around to find him lying on the bed under the covers, on his left side next to the wall. He was already dozing as Liz went to lie down next to him. She was careful not to disturb him and laid down on her left side facing away from him. Liz closed her eyes and was on the cusp of sleep when she felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her tightly against him. She felt his warm breath on her cheek as he leaned over and kissed the corner of her mouth softly, then kissed her neck before saying, "If I wasn't so damn tired I would try to seduce you, and you wouldn't be able to resist my charming self", she knew he was teasing her, trying to get a reaction from her, so she said nothing and found the hand that was rubbing circles on her stomach under her shirt and laced her fingers through his. "We'll have plenty of time for that, Red. There's no rush." She said it softly and he didn't answer, so she figured he either didn't have an adequate reply or was already asleep.

She closed her eyes and was just about asleep again she heard a sigh that sounded a lot like, "I love you, Sweetheart", but she could have been dreaming it, she wasn't sure.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Liz awoke to a feeling like she was being crushed and started to panic for moment before she realized that she could hear heavy breathing in her ear. It was Red, sound asleep, practically laying on top of her. She rolled her eyes and tried to push him off, but he was too heavy. She strained her eyes to look up at the window and saw that it was early morning, probably about time to get up.

"Red." No change in his breathing. "Reddington." Still nothing and she was really having a hard time breathing. "Raymond!" That did it. He groaned, rolled over onto his back and rubbed a hand over his face, "Lizzy, what time is it?"

She rolled over and faced him, "I don't know, you were laying on top of me so I couldn't check." There was annoyed amusement in her voice.

He opened one eye at that and quirked his mouth, "Sorry, I haven't slept with another person in quite a while. I'm used to having the bed to myself."

She loved it when he provided little tidbits about his life before meeting her, and she liked that he hadn't slept with someone for a while. As petty as that sounded, she only wanted him for herself. She could finally admit that, even if it was only in her head.

She ran a hand over his stubbly cheek, loving the feel of his soft facial hair. Tom's wasn't this sof-

Liz cut off her own thoughts, she was sooo not going there.

He hummed in appreciation, a low rumbling sound from his throat, then put his arm under her neck and pulled her to his side. She went willingly and looped her arm over his t-shirt clad chest, then put her leg over his thighs and closed her eyes again. Liz wished she could stay there all day.

Red was rubbing small circles on her back, making her drowsy again, when he said, "Lizzy, we need to get up." He looked at his watch. "It's five after seven and we're going to be late meeting April if we don't hurry."

She nodded but didn't move, content to just forget about every problem in her life for a while, and enjoy Red's soothing touches.

He shook her shoulders softly and she sighed, "I guess you're right." She started to roll away from him to get up, but before she could, he grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back over to him. Liz looked down at him in question and he put his hand behind her neck and pulled her down to him, kissing her softly. Before he could pull away, she put her hand on his cheek to keep him in place and deepened the kiss. He responded by opening his mouth, and moved himself to lay on top of her, putting most of his weight on her left side being mindful of her injured ribs, his tongue clashing with hers. They stayed that way for what seemed like hours, but was in reality only a minute or two when Red finally pulled away breathing hard, and laid his head down on her shoulder. She could feel how much he wanted her but chose to ignore it. Liz could feel his breath on her neck as he moved his head and started placing hot open-mouthed kisses to the juncture of her shoulder and neck, then her collarbone. She hummed appreciatively and put her hand on his head, running it over his soft hair. "Red", she said breathlessly, which seemed to encourage him because his right hand was started running up her ribs towards her bra-less breasts.

She needed to stop him before they got carried away. There were more important things they needed to be doing, but she still hated to stop him.

"Red", she said his name more forcefully this time and he got the message because his hand on her ribs paused, inches from where he intended to put it. He sighed, removed his hand and carefully rolled off of her to sit on the edge of the bed. She sat up gingerly, her ribs still hurt like a bitch, and ran her hand over his back as she sat next to him. Liz didn't know what he was thinking until he turned to her and leaned over to kiss her softly once more, a small smile on his face. "Good morning."

She laughed softly and stood up, "Good morning yourself, let's get going." He nodded and stood up as they both dressed for a long hike in the woods.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

After finishing breakfast they made their way down to the greenhouse, walking at a leisurely pace and making sure to look like they were just taking a stroll around the compound and nothing more.

Liz was extremely nervous and didn't know what to expect. For all she knew, Haley was working for O'Sullivan and was luring them into a trap.

They both made sure to dress warmly. She wore an old hoodie and worn out jeans with tennis shoes, while he wore a green plaid shirt and black jeans with a pair of Nike's that she'd never seen before. He hadn't shaved and had a good amount of salt and pepper facial hair, which she liked because it gave him a rugged look that she wasn't used to seeing on him. It gave him character.

Liz smiled and he happened to look over at that moment, "What's so amusing, Lizzy?"

She shook her head and reached for his hand which he took and laced their fingers together and continued walking in silence.

They walked another five minutes or so and arrived at the meeting place at eight o'clock on the dot. There wasn't any sign of Haley and Liz's anxiety shot up two-fold.

Red let go of her hand and started walking around, probably looking for Haley.

They waited another ten minutes before Haley stepped out from behind a tree, "Sorry I'm late, I almost got caught."

Liz jumped in surprise, her heart pounding and said, "I was worried we'd been set up."  
Haley shook her head and grimaced, "No, I would never help the bad guys, this place creeps me out so bad." Liz agreed with that sentiment but said nothing.

"Let's go guys, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find that building again."

Red walked over to Liz, placed his hand on her back and gently pushed her in front of him. He apparently wanted to take the rear and she rolled her eyes as his over-protectiveness.

They walked and walked and walked for what seemed like miles. She turned back to Red, who didn't look the least bit tired, "How long have we been walking, honey?"

He looked at his watch, "At least two hours." He spoke louder, "Haley, are you positive we're going in the right direction?"

She stopped and looked back, "I'm sure. I walked at least this long when I followed them the first time." She indicated the trail they were walking on, "plus the trail isn't hard to follow."

Liz sighed as Haley turned back around and continued walking. Red walked up to her and kissed her forehead. "Let's keep going, Lizzy, I'm sure we'll arrive soon."

She nodded and turned to follow Haley, who was at least twenty yards ahead of them already, Red following close behind.

They walked for another fifteen minutes when Liz saw Haley stop dead in her tracks and turn around. She looked scared, "We're here."

Liz and Red caught up to her and saw what Haley had meant by small building. In fact it looked a lot like the one that Jay had taken Liz to. Liz shivered at the thought and Red put his hand on her shoulder in comfort, easily guessing the direction of her thoughts.

Red walked forward and turned back to the girls, "I want you two to hide in the trees while I check the area, I need to make sure there aren't any guards."

Liz snorted, "Like hell, I'm coming with you."

Red sighed in defeat, realizing there wasn't any way he was going to convince her to stay behind.

"Fine, but Haley, you are definitely staying behind."

She shrugged, "No argument from me", and went to hide behind a particularly large pine tree.

Red turned to Liz, "I'll go that way", pointing to his left, "And you go that way", pointing to his right, and we'll meet in the middle. His voice dropped, "Lizzy, please do be careful, we don't know what's out there."

She rolled her eyes, her voice even softer, "Red, I'm a trained FBI agent, I know how to search without being caught."

He nodded, but she could see in his eyes that he was still worried for her. She turned and walked to her right, anxious to get the search over with so they could go inside the building.

She did her sweep of the woods, not seeing anyone or anything in sight. Not even any animals, which worried her.

Liz made it back to the rendezvous point and saw Red waiting for her. He didn't show it on his face, but his body language indicated his worry for her. She smiled as she walked up to him, "See anything?"

He shook his head, "No", his jaw clenched, "And I don't like it, this all seems too easy."

She agreed but didn't say anything. There was no way they were going to abandon April now.

Red turned towards where Haley was hiding, "You can come out now. Unless you want to wait out here for us."

Haley stepped out from the tree and walked over to them, "No way, I want to help."

Red nodded, obviously not wanting to put her in danger as well, but couldn't force her to stay behind.

He walked over to the door, stood off to the side and opened it slowly. There weren't any gunman rushing out to shoot or anything surprising, so he moved closer and poked his head inside. He immediately pulled it out and said, "It's just a small room. There's nothing inside."

Liz felt devastated and depressed all at once and just wanted to sit down and cry, but walked up to him and opened the door further. "There's got to be something else in here."

She walked in before Red could stop her and saw what he meant. It was just a dirty, dark, empty little room.

Sighing, she walked in further and heard the hollowness of her footsteps. That was the reason there was no one inside, because there was a room underground.

She turned to Red, "Listen", she tapped her foot against the ground again. He heard it and nodded, "There's obviously a room below us."

She nodded and knelt down to find the handle while he walked over to help her. Haley stayed standing in the doorway with a worried expression on her face.

Liz found it and started to pull up the door, but Red stopped her with a hand on hers. "Wait, let me do it. I don't want someone to come up shooting."

He had a point, but she was tired of his constant over-protectiveness. She acquiesced with a nod of her head and he moved over to her and took the door from her. He opened it slowly and winced, but again there was no gunfire or masked bad guys coming at them.

Red opened it all the way and they immediately saw cement stairs leading down into the darkness. He turned to her, "Do you still have your flashlight?"

She nodded and pulled it out of her pocket, turning it on before handing it to him. He shined the light on the stairs and began to descend. Liz followed behind him closely and heard Haley hurry after them as well.

They walked downwards for a long time, but finally came to a door at the end of the stairs. Red tried the handle, but it was locked. He shined the light around the doorway and immediately saw a key hanging from a nail by the door. Obviously the captors didn't expect anyone else to find this place.

Red took the key down and put it in the lock, slowly turning it as quietly as he could.

She heard the click of the lock as Red turned the handle again and the door swung open with a loud squeak.

He shined the light inside the room and it landed on a face. She heard Red's intake of breath, "Dembe?"

Liz hurriedly looked over his shoulder. Dembe was sitting there, clearly having been beaten,with a baby in his arms.

He squinted at the light in his face. "Mr. Reddington, it is good to see you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiz is getting real. Whoo. Thanks for the reviews and kudos from the last chapter. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. I really really would like to know your thoughts, even if it's just "wow, amazing chapter" or "I hate how you write because..."..haha..pleaseee review. Have a great day.


	18. Chapter 18

Red immediately walked in the room and over to where Dembe sat on the dirt floor. "Dembe, what the hell are you doing here?"

Dembe looked like he was ready to pass out and seemed a little out of it as he said, "It is a long story Mr. Reddington, one that I do not think I can tell right now." Then he held the baby out for Red to take, and as soon as Red did so, he slumped over.

Liz rushed into the room and put her fingers on Dembe's neck to check for a pulse. She sighed in relief when she felt his steady heartbeat and turned to Red to tell him. Her words caught in her throat though, because Red was staring down at the tiny bundle with a look she had never seen on his face before. The closest words she could think of to describe the look was amazement. Like he'd never seen something so precious in his life. She knew he had been a father at one time, but not much beyond that tiny bit of information.

Her eyes filled up with tears at seeing his raw emotion, but she fought them down and walked over to him, putting her hand on his shoulder, "Red, we need to find April." He looked up, his usual emotionless mask back on his face, and nodded. He handed her the baby and said in a low voice, "Is Dembe ok?"

Liz nodded, "He's just unconscious. It looks like he's been through a lot."

He nodded again, his jaw clenched, and took her flashlight out of the pocket he had stuffed it in to take the baby from Dembe. She had barely been able to see his face before because the light was shining through his pants, but could see him much better now. "You stay here, I'm going to look around some more." She nodded and he walked away, shining the light in front of him. It was pitch black in the room, and the only light now was the small amount from the doorway, but that just amounted to a small change in the darkness.

She heard Haley walk over to her, her voice quiet, "Oh my gosh, April had her baby! Is it a girl or boy?"

Liz shook her head, "I don't know." She wasn't all that experienced around babies, and was nervous to wake the sleeping child.

Haley sighed, "Well we should look and find out, are you sure the baby is even ok?"

Liz placed her hand on the baby's chest and felt the rapid rise and fall of its breath. She sighed in relief as a light suddenly came on. She turned to Haley and saw her holding a small flashlight. Haley smiled and shrugged, "Just thought I would come prepared, just in case."

Liz was grateful for the teenager's foresight and took the flashlight from her with her right hand, her left holding tightly to the baby. "We need to check the baby over and make sure it's not in immediate danger. I'm going to hand the baby to you while I check, is that ok?"

Haley nodded, "Sure, I have a lot of brothers and sisters, so I know how to hold a baby."

Grateful once again for the teenager's helpfulness, she handed the baby over to her and set the flashlight on the ground, standing it up so it acted as a lantern.

Liz looked at what the baby was wrapped in and saw that it was a coat, probably Dembe's, and slowly unwrapped the tiny baby.

The baby was naked underneath and she immediately saw that it was a boy. She smiled and picked up the flashlight, shining it all over his body. He didn't even stir in his sleep. Liz didn't see anything concerning, other than he didn't look to be over a day old, maybe less, and half of his umbilical cord was still attached and tied into a knot. Again, most likely Dembe's doing. She was suddenly grateful that he had been with April when she had given birth.

She heard footsteps coming their way and she quickly wrapped the boy back up in the coat and stood up, leaving him with Haley. Red approached them and by the look on his face didn't have good news. In fact, he looked furious. She grabbed his arm and steered him away from Haley, then looked at him expectantly. "April is dead."

She had a feeling that was what he was going to say, but still felt like she had been sucker-punched in the stomach. She sucked in a breath, "How?"

He shook his head, his voice low and deadly sounding, "I can't be sure, she'd been beaten pretty badly, but I'm surmising she died giving birth. Her body was almost certainly already in a weakened state when she gave birth and there was a lot of blood on the floor and around her body. We'll have to wait for Dembe to wake up to know for certain."

Tears welled up in her eyes once again. She couldn't even imagine what the poor girl had gone through and was doing her best to avoid thinking about it.

Red put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. his other hand coming around and resting just above her tailbone. He spoke softly into her ear, "I'm sorry, Lizzy. No one deserves to die like she did. We will get back at the bastards who did this, I can promise you that."

She nodded and took deep breaths, not trusting herself to say anything, lest she break down in tears. She needed to stay strong.

Liz heard footsteps behind her, then Haley's quiet voice, "April's dead isn't she?"

She pulled out of Red's embrace and turned to her, "Yes, I'm sorry Haley. I know she was your friend."

Haley, still holding the sleeping baby, nodded, clearly trying to control her emotions. "I'm just sorry I didn't get to know her better. At least her baby is ok."

Liz took a deep breath. The baby was ok. The baby that April meant for her to adopt. That was her son that Haley was holding, and that scared her more than anything.

They heard a groan behind them and Liz was shaken from her disturbing thoughts, grateful that she had been. Red walked over and knelt next to Dembe, putting a hand on his cheek, "Hey, are you going to live?"

Dembe tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace, "I will live, Sir, but the girl-", Red cut him off, "We know, I discovered her body moments ago. How did it happen?"

Dembe tried to sit up a little more, but was having a hard time, so Red grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up a few inches. "She went into labor after being beaten again. She was terrified, but we could not stop the inevitable. I tried to do my best, but I do not have that kind of medical training and I only had the light of a small flashlight that died soon after. I believe her uterus ripped away from the uterine wall and she bled to death. There was nothing I could do Mr. Reddington." He had a pained expression on his face and Liz just wanted to kneel down and hug him, but refrained.

Before Red could say anything, Liz said, "It's not your fault Dembe, you did the best you could and you kept the baby alive, which will keep the memory of April alive."

Dembe nodded, his face solemn, but her words seemed to comfort him a little.

Red patted his shoulder, "How long ago was this?"

"It has been less than a day, I am sure. The baby will need to eat something soon. I am surprised he hasn't woken up." A worried look crossed his face.

Liz knelt down in front of him, "He's fine. Just asleep. Did April tell you what she wanted to name him?"

Dembe nodded, "She wanted to name him Alec. She liked that the name means "Defender of mankind", he smiled faintly, "I agree with her, it is a strong, worthy name."

Liz smiled and nodded, "I agree, it's perfect." Then she got up and stood next to Haley, who was listening to their conversation silently, gently rocking the baby in her arms.

Red stood up, "As much as I'd like to stand around and chit-chat, I don't know how much longer we can remain here without being discovered. Dembe, can you walk?"

Dembe nodded, "Yes, Sir. I am sure that I only have a few broken ribs, nothing else."

Red nodded and helped Dembe to his feet. He leaned heavily on Red for a moment, then straightened and said, "I will be fine."

Red walked over to Liz and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm going to send Dembe and the baby out of the compound." She started to protest, but he held up his hand, "We still need to take down O'Sullivan along with Kitty and others whom I'm sure we don't know about yet."

She didn't like it, but he was right. As much as she wanted to take care of the baby, there were more important things they needed to accomplish first. She knew Dembe would guard Alec with his life and would take good care of him until Liz could return.

She nodded reluctantly, "Maybe we should send Haley with him too."

He grimaced, "It might be prudent, she would most likely blow our cover before we could finish our work if we let her go back with us."

Liz turned to Haley, "Do you want to leave the compound and go with Dembe to help him take care of Alec?"

Her eyes betrayed her emotions. She was terrified. "I don't know, I mean I don't have anywhere to go and I don't have any family. I've been here for almost a year, this is as close to a home as I've got."

Red walked up beside Liz, "Don't worry about having a place to stay. I'll set you up with anything you need along with a job, and Dembe will keep you safe. You have my word."

Haley swallowed, "You guys aren't April's Uncle and Aunt are you?"

Liz shook her head, "No, I met April through an adoption agency. I was planning on adopting her baby and when she went missing and we tracked her here. We came to bring her back, but obviously failed in that respect." Her throat tightened with emotion. She still couldn't believe that April was gone. Her life had just starting out; she was so full of life and excited about her future, but it had been cut short by the bastards at this damned compound.

Haley hesitated, clearly thinking over her options. After a moment she nodded, "Ok, I'll go with Dembe. I don't think I could ever trust anyone from here after what they did to April. I promise I'll keep Alec as safe as possible."

Liz smiled, "Thank you, Haley. I'm so glad we met you."

Haley smiled back faintly but quickly frowned, her voice full of emotion, "I'm glad too, and I'm glad to finally get some answers about April. I haven't been able to sleep for like..days, but I'm still so sad."

Liz put her arm around her and pulled her into a side hug. "It'll take time, but you'll be happy again, I promise."

Red spoke up, urgency in his voice, "We need to get moving, right now. I still feel as if something isn't right. We don't have any choice but to leave April's body here."

Liz nodded and steered Haley towards the door, Alec still asleep in her arms. She heard Red and Dembe follow behind her as she started the trek up the long stairway.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She finally started to see slivers of sunlight coming from above them and heaved a sigh of relief. They were almost to the top. Almost immediately she heard men's voices and stopped and whispered back to Red, "Someone's up there, Red."

He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, "Stay here while I go check it out." Before she could protest he continued, "You need to help keep the baby safe. Promise me you'll stay here."

He was right, but she didn't have to like it. "Fine, I promise, but be careful."

Red nodded and turned back to Dembe, "Are you well enough to help?"

"Yes, Sir. I would not let you go up there alone."

Liz smiled. That's why she liked Dembe so much. Loyal to a fault. Even if it meant dying to save someone else.

Red and Dembe made their way up the stairs silently. She heard them open the trap door slowly and climb out. She couldn't see them anymore and prayed that they wouldn't get killed.

She heard the door to the building open slowly then suddenly all hell broke loose. Multiple gun-shots rang out and there was a lot of yelling and shouting. She wasn't sure who was doing the yelling, but she was terrified. The baby woke up to the sound of the gunshots and started crying at the top of his lungs. Haley was doing her best, but the baby wasn't calming down at all. Liz turned to her and gently took the baby in her arms, putting him on her shoulder and patting his back. His crying softened into whimpers and Liz strained her ears for any sounds from above. It was silent. She didn't know what to think, and decided they would wait another ten minutes before attempting to find out what happened. If Red and Dembe had been killed there would be men coming down the stairs soon anyway.

The trap door opened and Liz held her breath. This was it. She handed the baby back to Haley and readied herself. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

She heard footsteps coming slowly down the stairs then Red's deep voice washed over her, "Lizzy, it's all clear up here. The danger has passed."

She half sobbed as she ran up to where he was standing and hugged him tightly. She heard him grunt in pain and pulled back, "Are you hurt? What the hell happened?"

He grabbed her shoulders and grimaced, "There were three men standing outside smoking and talking about deplorable things that they were planning to do to April. As we rushed them, they fired their guns and a bullet grazed my thigh. I'll be fine, it's not anything that hasn't happened to me before. We took care of them quickly; As they obviously weren't expecting anyone to be around. Dembe is outside disposing of the bodies as we speak."

Liz grimaced. She always hated how he spoke of murder as if it was just something that he did every day. Serving to remind her once again how dangerous he was if he so chose to be.

Seeing her discomfort he shook his head, "Lizzy, if we didn't kill them, then they most certainly would have reported back to O'Sullivan and we would be as good as dead. We didn't have a choice."

Liz knew that, but still didn't like it. She nodded, "I'm just glad you're not seriously hurt. That was the longest five minutes of my life."

Red huffed a small, humorless laugh, "I can only imagine." He quickly changed the subject, "We need to get moving, it's getting late and Dembe and Haley have a long walk ahead of them, as do we."

She nodded and walked back down the stairs to where Haley was hiding.

When she saw Liz, she smiled, "I'm assuming everything worked out ok?"

Liz smiled faintly. "Red was shot, but he'll be ok, and the bad guys are gone." She didn't want to say they were dead, the girl had already seen more death than she should have today.

Haley carried the baby up to her and handed him to her. "I need a break, especially if I'm going to be carrying him for a long time."

Liz put him on her shoulder and followed Haley up the rest of the stairs and out of the building. She took a deep cleansing breath. It was good to be out in fresh air and sunlight again.

She looked around and saw Red sitting against a tree, attempting to wrap his bleeding thigh with some fabric that she assumed he got from one of the dead guys. She walked over to him, "Red, let me help you." He nodded and she held out the baby for him to take. He hesitated, but finally took Alec from her and cradled him in his arms gently. The baby had his eyes open and was looking around in wonder at his surroundings although his eyes still had remnants of tears in them. He really was a trooper after everything he had already gone through in his short life.

She would be bawling like a baby if she didn't need to stay strong.

Liz finished wrapping Red's thigh, it really was just a graze because the bleeding had mostly stopped, and sat back against the tree with a sigh. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her temple. "Thank you for trusting me and keeping your promise."

She smiled, nodded and stared down at the baby, "Red, you do know that I'm going to adopt him when we get back, right?"

She felt him sigh, "I know that, Lizzy. I'm not ready to think that far in the future though. I need to focus on taking down O'Sullivan."

Liz felt disappointed at his lack of commitment, but couldn't really fault him for it. "That's fine, I just wanted to remind you of my intentions."

He said nothing, pulled his arm from around her shoulders and put his hand on the baby's head, softly caressing the wispy dark brown hair. Alec was a beautiful baby, with the brown hair, blue eyes and perfectly shaped head, although his eyes probably wouldn't stay blue.

Liz looked at Red, who had a wistful expression on his face as he absentmindedly continued to stroke the baby's hair. Red really was adorable with Alec and it made her fall a little more for him.

He finally spoke, "We need to go Lizzy, as much as I don't want to leave Dembe and this little guy, he has to be hungry and the sooner they get to safety the sooner he can eat." Liz wondered why he wasn't already starving.

Just as she thought that, Dembe walked up to them, not looking any worse for wear. "Dembe, was April able to nurse him before she passed away?"

He nodded, "Yes, there was a period of time that she was lucid enough to feed him. That was a while ago, he will be hungry again soon. We must go."

Liz didn't want to give up the baby, but knew she didn't have a choice. Alec's safety was paramount.

She stood up and held a hand out to help Red up. He took it, trying not to put any weight on his left leg and stood up, the baby still cradled in his right arm.

She took Alec from him and hugged him to her softly, kissing his soft hair. Red put his hand on the baby's head and leaned down and kissed his forehead then pulled away with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Liz whispered into Alec's ear, "Goodbye, baby. We'll see you soon." She handed him over to Haley, who had walked up to them during their goodbyes.

"I promise we'll keep him safe. Don't worry about him. Just make sure you take down the bad guys."

Liz nodded, tears in her eyes as Dembe clapped Red on the back softly, "Be well Mr. Reddington. We will be ok. We will have a long conversation about everything that has happened when you return home", then nodded at Liz and walked the opposite direction towards safety.

Haley smiled at them faintly and clutching the baby tightly to her body, hurried to catch up to Dembe.

They watched them go and Liz suddenly felt like she was losing her whole future. Red put his arm around her waist and said, "It will all work out Lizzy and you'll see Alec in no time."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak and slipped her arm around his waist. After watching Dembe and Haley until they couldn't see them anymore, Liz said, "Let's go, it's going to be dark soon and it's going to be slow going with your leg."

He nodded, leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips then pulled away and started slowly leading her back towards the compound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally wasn't planning on getting another chapter out this soon, but the muse wanted to write and who am I to deny her? Thanks so much for all the reviews and kudos from the last chapter, that's more like it! Haha...please do the same with this chapter and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading..and have a fantastic day. :)


	19. Chapter 19

Red and Liz started to make the long journey back to the compound, and it was slow going.

After an hour of walking, Red had put his arm around her shoulders for support, and a half an hour later was leaning heavily on her. She stopped after hearing his breathing become labored, "Red, do you want to sit and rest for a minute?"

He shook his head, the sweat on his forehead glistening in the fading sunlight, "I fear that if I stop, I won't be able to start again."

She was worried that he had lost too much blood, or that there was more damage to his leg than he was letting on but she didn't voice those concerns because he wouldn't tell her the truth anyway.

Instead she patted his side lightly, "Let's get going then, it's almost dark."

Liz heard him sigh and let out a little grunt as he put pressure on his injured leg and began walking again.

OOOOOOO

They didn't see Kitty step out from behind a tree, the look on her face that of a predator stalking its prey.

OOOOOOO

Another hour of walking found them almost to the back of the greenhouses. Liz sighed in relief. The last mile or so she had been supporting Red almost completely. She knew he was trying to keep most of his weight off of her, but she was still carrying a lot of it. That's when she knew that Red's injury wasn't just a "graze" like he had told her. Liz felt angry with him that he didn't tell her the truth, but found she couldn't blame him either, because she probably would have made a big deal out of it. She wasn't going to confront him about it until they reached their room.

Liz was exhausted and felt ready to fall into bed and sleep for a very long time. It had been an emotionally and physically taxing day. They still needed to find evidence to implicate O'Sullivan and she found herself hoping that it wouldn't take more than a couple of days. They needed to get out of here for their own sanity if not their health.

She was ready to start a new life with Alec and possibly Red. She wanted to believe he would choose to stay with them, but it might be too painful for him to start over with another family. Liz needed to prepare herself for the possibility that he might not stay. It was a sobering thought and one she didn't want to dwell on.

Red had hardly said anything the last hour or so and his breathing was still labored. She squeezed his side lightly, "Do you want me to check your leg to make sure the bleeding is stopped before we get into the compound?"

He patted her shoulder with the hand that was draped over her shoulders, his voice hoarse, "No, I just want to return back to our room." He took his arm back, his fingers trailing along her shoulder blades, and stood up on his own, albeit a little wobbly, "I'm going to try to walk by myself so as not to arouse even more suspicion at our long absence."

She shrugged. She wasn't going to argue with his logic, but was dubious that he would make it all the way back without her support.

It was twilight now, so she couldn't see him well, but knew he looked pale and exhausted.

She turned to face him, reached into his pants pocket, and dug the handkerchief he always kept out. She wiped the sweat off of his face, her concern for him clear in her expression.

He smiled faintly and pulled her close for a moment, whispering in her ear, "Thank you, Lizzy. I'll be fine." He sounded confident, but she knew that was just how he portrayed himself to others. She wished he would drop the act around her.

He pulled back and heaved a sigh, "Come along Sweetheart. I'm ready to take a shower and sleep." He took a few steps, looking surprisingly sturdy, when they both heard someone approaching.

Red was a few feet in front of her and she couldn't make out who it was, but then heard the person's voice and a chill ran down her spine.

"Andrew, I'm so glad I found you, I wanted to ask...What happened to you Baby?"

Jordyn was back.

Jordyn hadn't seen Liz standing behind Red, for which she was grateful for. She shrunk back behind the nearest tree slowly, interested to see how Red was going to handle the situation.

She watched as Jordyn approached Red, the concerned look on her face highlighted by the moonlight.

Red glanced behind him quickly, not seeing Liz, and immediately understanding that she was letting him handle Jordyn without her being there to provoke Jordyn's anger.

"Nothing to concern yourself with Jordyn. I wasn't watching where I was walking and tripped and sprained my knee. I'll be fine."

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. Can I do anything to help you?"

Jordyn moved closer and cupped Red's jaw with her hands, but Red immediately removed them and stepped back. "I've told you multiple times that I'm perfectly happy with my wife and I have no interest in you that way. Do. Not. Concern. Yourself. With. Me."

Jordyn looked hurt, "Andrew, you don't know what you're missing out on. I can give you so much more than that Bitch you're married to. She doesn't hold a candle to me."

Liz heard Red chuckle humorlessly, "Silly woman, first, don't you dare ever call her a Bitch again. Second, you don't have any idea what you're talking about. My wife is the best person I know and I have zero desire to be with anyone else the rest of my life."

Liz smiled at his words, touched that he thought that of her.

Her attention turned back to the conversation just in time to see Jordyn's face turn angry and ugly. "Well if I can't have you, then she can't."

Liz watched in horror as Jordyn pulled a gun out of her coat and pointed it at Red's chest.

She wished she could see the look on his face, because his body language from behind hadn't changed at all. This obviously wasn't the first time a gun had been pulled on him in his dealings with criminals, and most likely wouldn't be the last either.

He put his hands up lazily, but his voice was deadly, "You're going to want to think very hard about what you do next. You don't know what kind of man I am or the things I've done in my life. Things you wouldn't believe."

Jordyn laughed, "I don't believe you. I've seen how you treat people around you and there's no way you're capable of all that much."

Red laughed coldly and shook his head, "Stupid woman."

Liz didn't understand why he was deliberately provoking her.

His words put Jordyn over the edge and she starting waving the gun around while screaming, "Don't call me names you bastard! I'll kill you, I promise I will!"

Liz realized the situation was getting out of hand. Red probably had a plan, but his shoulders seemed to be sagging a little and she was worried he wouldn't be able to carry out any plan he had before collapsing.

She started to creep closer to where they were standing, keeping to the treeline as much as possible and staying silent. She listened as Jordyn ranted and raved at Red, calling him every name she could think of, still waving the gun around. She had her finger on the trigger and Liz felt she needed to act quickly before Jordyn became trigger happy.

Liz was almost there and Jordyn still hadn't noticed her. Her attention completely focused on Red.

Five feet away and she was completely exposed in the open and prayed that Jordyn wouldn't look to her right.

Just as she stood up a little to tackle Jordyn, she turned and pointed the gun at Liz. "Well, well, well..isn't it the missus? You're here just in time to die, bitch."

Liz stood and put her hands up, she had to try to talk herself out of this and give Jordyn a chance to surrender. "There's no reason for anyone to get hurt. Just put the gun down and walk away and we'll forget this ever happened."

Jordyn snorted, "That's not going to happen." Her voice took on a dreamy quality, "All I have to do is kill you and then he'll be mine. You're the only obstacle in the way. He wants to be with me, but doesn't have the guts to do anything to get rid of you."

Liz glanced at Red out of the corner of her eye and saw a disbelieving look in his eyes. She knew Jordyn was a little off, but never realized she was this crazy.

She saw movement to her right and saw Red inching towards Jordyn, intending to tackle her to the ground while she was distracted by Liz.

He finally got close enough and launched himself at her, taking her down easily. They wrestled for the gun, rolling back and forth. Jordyn was screaming at him to stop, while she heard nothing from Red.

Liz ran over to them, but honestly didn't know how to help without making it worse.

That's when she heard the gunshot and her heart dropped to her feet.

They were both lying motionless and Liz feared the worst.

She slowly made her way over to them and saw Jordyn lying on top of Red, unmoving.

She heard a moan that was most definitely Reds, and half-sobbed in relief.

Liz quickly shoved Jordyn off of him and saw that he was covered in blood, but before she could say anything he handed the gun up to her and opened his eyes, "None of its mine, Lizzy. I'm uninjured."

She quickly dug the handkerchief back out of his pocket and wiped the blood from a cut on his eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not injured anywhere else?"

He nodded, "I'm sure." He stilled her hand that was absent-mindedly wiping his face over and over with the handkerchief and nodded in Jordyn's direction, "You need to make sure she's incapacitated."

She took a deep breath and stood up, leaving the gun on the ground, and walked over to the body.

Jordyn's arms were spread eagle and she was lying motionless. Liz put her hand on her neck to check for a pulse and felt nothing. Surveying her body, she saw that the gunshot had gone through her heart, most likely killing her instantly.

Liz sat back and closed her eyes, sighing in relief that Red hadn't been the one shot. That had been way too close.

She realized that they needed to get rid of the body quickly before they were discovered, because that gunshot would have easily been heard up at the compound, and stood back up, walking back over to Red.

He was still lying on his back with his eyes closed. "Red, I need to hide the body. Do you want me to help you sit up before I go?"

Red nodded and opened his eyes. He looked even paler in the moonlight, if that was even possible. "Yes, I'm ready to get up."

She grabbed him by both of his hands and pulled. He grunted but said nothing as she helped him into a sitting position. She made sure he wasn't going to fall over before she let him go.

She nodded her head in the direction of the trees, "I'm going to drag the body over there and try to cover it up as much as possible. Hopefully it won't be discovered too soon."

He nodded, "I'm sorry I can't help. I know this whole situation goes against everything you've been trained to do in this kind of situation."

Red was right. She felt like she was breaking the law, but Jordyn had been the one doing the law-breaking, not her. She still felt guilty for covering any of this up and not reporting it, but they couldn't let their cover be blown this soon.

She grimaced, "There's nothing that can be done about it now. I need to hurry because I'm sure there will be someone coming down soon to investigate the gunshot soon."

Liz leaned over and kissed the side of his mouth then pulled away. "Try to clean yourself up, you're a mess."

His shirt was covered in Jordyn's blood and the cut above his eye was still oozing blood. She glanced at his leg and saw that the cloth wrapped around the gunshot was soaked with blood as well. She closed her eyes, praying that everything about this situation would be over soon.

He quirked his mouth slightly, "I'm not sure I can do much, but I'll do what I can."

She smiled faintly, walked over to Jordyn's body, grabbed her legs and started dragging her towards the trees. She was heavier than she looked. Liz sighed. This was going to take a while.

After what seemed to be at least an hour, she finally finished hiding the body under the foliage in the forest. Liz stood back and surveyed her work and saw that she couldn't see the body from where she stood. It was good enough.

She started walking back to where she had left Red. She was worried for him; he hadn't looked good.

Liz walked up to where she was sure she had left him.

He was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update. It's been a crazy two weeks and I attempted (key word there, not sure how successful I was..haha) to write a Lizzington Christmas fic. Thanks for reading and please, please let me know what you think. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know I did!


	20. Chapter 20

"What the hell?" Liz mumbled to herself. She knew she was at the right place.

She knelt and ran her fingers over the grass. They came up slick and could see in the moonlight that it was blood. Whether it was Red's or Jordyn's she didn't know.

She stood up and surveyed the surrounding area, but couldn't see anything in the weak light.

A growing sense of panic was gnawing at her gut, but she had to stay calm and think; Red's life depended on it.

Liz hadn't seen anyone lurking around, but they could have easily hid in the trees and waited for the right opportunity.

Red would have never been caught off-guard normally, but he was injured and may even have a concussion resulting from his tussle with Jordyn.

"Dammit." She had just left him sitting there, vulnerable. Sometimes she wondered why she was even an FBI agent, because she felt like a complete idiot at the moment. She honestly didn't know what to do, and didn't know who she could trust, if anyone, and Dembe was out of reach.

She glanced at her watch, pushing the button for the light, and saw it was 9:45. That meant it was past time for lights out. That was the one good thing going for her at the moment, because that would make it easier to move around the compound undetected.

She had to get to Jack's office. Maybe she could find the evidence they needed, then bring in the Calvary and they could help her find Red.

She walked close to the greenhouses and tried to keep out of sight. She made it to the edge of the greenhouses and stopped. The administration building was probably a good 200 yards away from where she was standing with nothing in the middle to mask her progress from whomever was after them.

"Screw it", she mumbled, and decided to just throw caution to the wind and make a run for it. She was in good enough shape that she could most likely sprint the whole way. Liz took off and was half way there when she saw dark shapes walking towards the administration building in front of her. She couldn't make out if they were male or female, but there was three of them, and they were walking with purpose.

Liz stopped and held her breath, hoping they wouldn't look her way, because they would see her if they did.

They kept walking however, and Liz sighed in relief. As soon as they disappeared inside the building, Liz took off at a dead run again towards her destination.

She made it within a minute or two and slid down against the building to catch her breath and to think up a plan. She needed to get in without anyone noticing and for that she had to cause a distraction.

The only things she could think of to do was to let the animals loose, or to set a fire. Setting a fire would certainly cause them all to come out and help put it out, while letting the animals loose probably wouldn't. She had a flashlight, so she could most likely cause enough sparks to start a fire...hopefully.

Now which building to set on fire? It had to be one that was empty, so no one would get hurt, but more important than just a greenhouse. She decided on the meeting hall where they had met everyone when they had first arrived. It was perfect, and it wasn't too far away.

Liz needed something for tinder and saw a pine tree standing next to the administration building. She walked under it and gathered as many pine needles as she could carry, then crept behind the tree line so she could walk unseen over to the meeting hall.

As she walked through the trees, she gathered bark and pine cones off of the ground to help fuel the fire once she got the tiny spark that she needed. She also picked up a rock to hit against the flashlight.

She made it to the hall without incident and snuck inside. She needed to find the most vulnerable area for a fire and decided to just do it in the main room on one of the old couches. It would easily catch on fire.

It was pitch black inside and she couldn't see much, but couldn't risk turning her flashlight on either. She kept banging her shins on things she couldn't see and bit back curses on the tip of her tongue.

Finally making it to one of the couches she put the pine needles in a small pile. This was going to be the hard part. She took the rock out of her pocket and put the flashlight at an angle towards the needles. She banged the rock hard against the metal of the flashlight but saw only one tiny spark. That wasn't going to do it obviously. Liz hit it again, even harder, and saw a couple more small sparks. "Come on." She mumbled. She hit it again, as hard as she could this time and multiple sparks came out, hitting the dry needles. She saw smoke rising from the moonlight coming through the windows and smiled. She leaned down and blew softly, coaxing the tiny flame. Praying it would take.

After a few seconds, the needles caught on fire and she hurriedly put on the pine cones and bark, then blew some more.

She had a full-out fire now and patted herself on the back for her resourcefulness. Then laughed internally, because she was once again breaking the law by committing arson, but found she didn't care.

The couch finally started to burn and she decided it was time to go. She snuck back out the way she had come in, ran back to the treeline and hid behind a large pine tree. Now all she had to do was wait.

Liz slid down the tree in exhaustion. She was so worried for Red that she could hardly think straight and hated herself for being like that. When had she become so attached? In such a short time she had come to depend on him to have all the answers and to protect her. She hadn't needed him to, but she let him because he wanted to do it. She cursed herself for getting too close to him, even if she did love him, because if he was dead then it was going to hurt a hell of a lot worse than it would have when they first arrived.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying to fight the thoughts that he was dead clawing their way to the surface of her mind.

Suddenly she heard shouts and peeked her head around the tree. There were people running to the meeting hall and she could see smoke pouring out of it. She grimaced. She was successful, but felt no satisfaction.

People were running towards the administration building, presumably to retrieve Jack so he could help. At least her plan worked.

After a few moments she saw five people run back out of the administration building. She could easily tell that Jack and Kitty were two of them, but couldn't make out the other ones.

After they passed her, with Jack shouting instructions to others, she took off towards the building they had just run out of. She made it to the door quickly and walked in.

It wasn't a large building, and only had five or six doors. She walked up to Jack's office door and tried the handle. It was locked.

"Dammit." She whispered. Liz couldn't kick the door down, and wasn't sure she would be able to anyway. She tried the handle again and saw that it was a little loose. Smiling at her good fortune, she took a bobby pin out of her hair and started to unscrew the loose screws around the handle. It should have only took a few seconds, but she felt rushed and her hands were shaking, making the task more difficult.

She finally unscrewed the last screw and took the handle off, then swung open the door.

There was Red, sitting in a chair tied up and unconscious, looking a lot worse for wear. She ran over to him and shook his shoulders. "Red, wake up." His head just lolled around slightly, with no response from him.

Liz grunted in frustration and started untying his restraints. She had gotten his torso untied and most of his legs when she heard a groan from behind the cloth covering his mouth. She quickly stood up and slipped it down to his neck. His face was bloody everywhere and one of his eyes was swollen shut.

Red lifted his head and cracked open the eye that wasn't welded shut. "Lizzy." He breathed, "What the hell are you doing here? Get out while you still can." His voice was raspy and pain-filled.

She shook her head, and wiped some of the blood on his face away with her sleeve, "You should know by now that I would never do that. I thought you knew everything about me?" She smiled faintly.

He shook his head, not amused, "It doesn't matter. You need to leave."

"Shut up, Red. I'm not leaving, so you might as well save your breath and help me get you out."

He sighed, clearly displeased with her, "Well you're going to need to release my hands so I can do so."

She quickly went around to his back and made fast work of the knots. Whomever had tied them hadn't done a very good job.

His arms freed, he bent over with a grunt and untied the rest of the restraints around his legs. His breathing was labored and he was letting little grunts of pain through his clenched jaw. She squatted next to him and put a hand on his back, "Where else are you injured?"

He looked at her and grimaced, "I'm fairly positive I have a few broken ribs and I can no longer feel the gunshot wound on my leg."

Liz knew that wasn't a good thing. "Well come on, we need to get out of here before they come back."

Just as she said that, she felt something strike the back of her head and everything went black. The last thing she heard was Red yelling obscenities at whomever had hit her.

OOOOOOOO

Liz awoke with a groan. She had a hell of a headache and wondered why. She opened her eyes, looked up and saw O'Sullivan staring at her with his piercing blue eyes, and everything that had happened came rushing back to her. Now they were both captive, with no hope to be rescued.

She looked to her right and saw Red looking at her with a blank expression. He obviously was trying to make it so O'Sullivan wouldn't see how much he actually cared for her welfare.

"Well, well, well..welcome back to the world of the living 'Elizabeth Keen'." She wondered how he knew who she was. Obviously seeing her confusion he continued, "Oh yes, I knew who you were as soon as you stepped foot into my compound. Do you think that I don't thoroughly check out everyone that comes here?" He laughed coldly.

"Why didn't you out us right away then?" She mumbled, her eyes betraying her hatred for him.

That's when she heard Kitty's voice, "We wanted to see what your agenda was. We couldn't figure out why you would come here. We found out that it was for that pregnant girl eventually, but she had already been taken into our custody for violating our 'sex before marriage' law."

Liz shook her head, and immediately regretted it as she squinted over at Kitty, "She was already pregnant, why did you even allow her to come if that was against one of your rules?"

Jack laughed, "We let her in so we could eliminate her from society. She was a sinner and needed to be treated as such."

"You bastard!" Liz yelled, she was angrier than she could ever remember being. "She was trying to start over and make a better life for herself, and you killed her cold-blooded!"

Jack pursed his lips, her words not affecting him in the least, "Um, I'm pretty sure child-birth killed her. Not us."

"She died because of the beatings, and you know that you son of a bitch."

He moved around his desk faster than she thought possible and slapped her across the face, hard.

She winced and blinked back the tears in her eyes. She wasn't going to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Red interrupted them before he could hit her again, his voice deadly. "Jack, leave her alone. You have no use for her. She's dead weight. Deal with me, but leave her out of it."

Jack and Kitty laughed at the same time, but it was Jack who spoke, "Oh, I think we're going to have a lot of fun with the both of you. Don't you think, Kitty?"

"Yes, Honey, and I can't wait." Gone was the warm, inviting woman whom they had first met.

Liz decided to try to get more information from them. "What do you want with us anyway? How could we possibly help you?"

Jack moved back around his desk and sat in his chair. "Oh, you have a great deal of value to us. Especially Red. Can you imagine how much I could sell him for to one of his old enemies? They would pay a fortune for him." He turned to his eyes to her, "For you, I could get a pretty penny on the black-market. There's always a market for hot young women, or I could keep you for myself." He smiled again, "Oh, that would be fun. Can you imagine the good times we would have Kitty?"

Kitty smirked, "I can picture it now."

Liz didn't see how they were going to get out of this without being sold off or killed. She glanced at Red and saw a cold fury in his eyes, but he was just as helpless as she was. They couldn't do anything with their hands tied up.

She needed to tell Red that she loved him before they got separated. He deserved to know. She turned her head to him and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Red spoke up, "I'll have you know that there are hundreds of FBI agents about to swarm this place. You should get away while you still can."

Jack laughed out loud, "Oh Reddy boy, do you think I'm an idiot? I would know if that was true."

Red sat back in defeat, his eyes closed. It looked as if he had given up and she felt her last sliver of hope slip away. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Jack stood up, walked back over to her and punched her in the ribs a few times, then her face a few more for good measure. She wasn't going to cry out. She refused to.

She was bleeding from her nose and a cut on her cheek by the time he was finished, but didn't say anything and just stared at him coldly.

He pursed his lips and wiped the blood that was on his knuckles on her shirt, then turned around to Kitty, "Your turn."

Kitty chuckled, "Nah, I'm tired of this. Let's get these two loaded up in a van, get rid of everyone else and move on. I think we've over stayed our welcome in Colorado..I was thinking maybe Utah next time? "

Jack shook his head, "Too close, but we can discuss that later when we're alone."

Kitty nodded, "Let's get moving then. I'm ready to sleep, it's been a long night what with the fire..."

She trailed off and walked up to Liz, her eyes murderous, "Did you set that fire?"

Liz smiled, her teeth blood-stained, and said proudly, "I did. Pretty good distraction don't you think?"

She slapped Liz across the face, the sound reverberating through the room, her voice angry, "All that does is cause more grief for you later on. You'll be punished for that when we have time to properly do it."

Liz nodded, feeling in the mood to provoke them, "I look forward to it."

Kitty stomped down on her foot as hard as she could and Liz grunted, but didn't cry out. It felt like all her toes and foot were broken. That was going to make any escape attempt even more difficult. Dammit.

Jack and Kitty turned to walk out the door when it burst open and off of its hinges. There stood Dembe, pointing a gun at them. They had such a shocked look on their faces that it caused Liz to laugh a little. Dembe spoke up, his voice calm, "I suggest you lie on the floor with your hands behind your backs, or I'll kill you without hesitation."

Jack laughed, "We have other people around here that are with us. You'll never get out of here alive."

Dembe smiled, "That is where you are wrong. As soon as I got out of the compound, I called the FBI and told them of the situation. There are currently over 100 FBI agents swarming the compound."

Jack looked back at Red incredulously. Red smirked, "I told you, O'Sullivan. You should have listened to me."

Jack screamed in anger and launched himself at Red, intending to kill him with his bare hands. Before he could even take a step, Dembe shot him in the leg, and Jack went down with a whimper, holding his leg and moaning in pain.

Dembe pointed the gun back at Kitty and gestured with it for her to get down on the ground. Liz could see the fury in her eyes, but she sighed and laid down on her stomach, putting her hands behind her back.

Dembe quickly pulled out two zip ties and put them on her wrists and ankles. She was cursing at him and tried to spit on him, so Dembe punched her in the face and knocked her out.

Then he walked over to O'Sullivan and did the same. Jack didn't want to let go of his leg, but Dembe didn't give him much choice.

Liz shook her head at Jack's whining, "Dembe, we need him alive so he can rot in prison, you should probably tie off his leg so he doesn't bleed to death." He nodded and proceeded to do so.

After he finished, he walked over to Red and untied him twice as fast as Liz had done earlier. The man truly was a jack of all trades.

Red stood up gingerly, walked over to Liz and untied her quickly. As soon as she was free he pulled her up and hugged her tightly to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tugged, bringing their bodies flush with each other, while keeping all her weight on her unbroken foot.

She put her lips on his ear, so only he could hear what she had to say, "Red, I love you. I should have told you that before, but I was afr..." He cut her off with his lips, kissing her hard and deep. No tenderness in sight. It took her a second to respond, but her brain finally caught up and she kissed him back with the same fervency. He jammed his tongue in her mouth and wrestled with hers, while running his hands over her back and under her shirt. She gasped and pulled away slightly at the contact, but he didn't let her get too far away and reclaimed her lips. His hands were running up her ribs softly, while she tugged at his shoulders to try to bring him impossibly closer. Just as his hands grazed the bottom of her bra, her senses came back to her. They were in a room with Dembe. FBI agents, and possibly Cooper, were outside right now and could walk in anytime.

She pushed back slightly, panting, "Red, we can't do this now. Anyone could walk in."

He leaned his head on her forehead, nodding, "I'm not going to apologize, but you're right. We can continue this later." There was a promise in his eyes.

He leaned in and kissed her again, all tenderness this time. He opened his mouth slightly and she reciprocated. After a moment he pulled back and hugged her to him. "I'm so glad you're ok, Lizzy. I was worried for your welfare after I was taken." He turned his head slightly and spoke directly in her ear, "I love you too, Sweetheart."

She closed her eyes and put her head on his shoulder, running her hands up and down his back, content to stay there forever. After only a moment though, Dembe spoke up, "Mr. Reddington, the Agent in charge would like to speak with you and Liz."

Red nodded, pulled away from Liz with a slight smile, and took her hand. He started to walk and Liz tried to follow, but as soon as she put weight on her foot, cried out in pain. He stopped and turned back to her, compassion on his face, "I forgot about your foot Lizzy, sorry." He walked back to her and put his arm around her waist in support then turned to Dembe, "Will you get on the other side of her and help her walk to headquarters?"

Dembe nodded and put his arm around her shoulders, then together they led Liz out of the room. Leaving Jack and Kitty lying there unconscious.

OOOOOOO

They made it to headquarters after ten minutes or so and helped Liz into a chair.

The walk over had been interesting to say the least. The building Liz had set on fire was now just a smoldering pile, but no longer posed any danger. People were being rounded up into groups by multiple FBI agents. Most had been compliant, but some had been downright belligerent and had to be restrained. Apparently they had found Jack's book in the time it took them to walk over here, that had a record of all his employees and illegal activities. He was going to be in prison for a long, long time. As was Kitty.

Liz settled on her seat and Harold Cooper walked over to them, "Agent Keen, Reddington, I'm glad to see you alive and relatively unharmed."

Liz nodded and smiled faintly, "Sir, how did you get here so quickly?"

"We had a task force ready to go as soon as we got the word. So when Dembe called we got here as fast as we could." He looked her up and down, "And apparently not a moment too soon."

She nodded and turned to Red, who was sitting heavily in the chair next to her, "You knew they were coming didn't you?"

"I told Dembe to get the FBI here as soon as possible. I just didn't have a chance to tell you."

Liz smiled, she didn't care about that, she was just grateful they were here and that she wasn't on her way to be sold on the black-market.

"Well I'm glad you did...wait..Dembe, where's Alec?" She suddenly felt panicked and turned to Dembe.

Dembe put his hands up, trying to quell the rising emotion in her eyes, "He is still with Haley. Grey is there helping as well. Baby Alec is well taken care of, do not worry about him."

Liz sat back in relief. Suddenly more grateful for Dembe than she had ever been. "Thank you Dembe, you've been great."

He nodded, clearly not comfortable with her praise, and walked away to help the FBI.

She turned to Red, who was looking at her with a small smile on his face, "What?"

He shook his head and pursed his lips, "Nothing, I'm just ready to return home. I'm ready for my bed."

She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but with Cooper standing there, she couldn't. He couldn't know about a relationship between them. If there was even going to be one. She hoped so.

Instead she turned to Cooper, "Sir, can we go home?"

Cooper nodded, "As soon as we take your statements and you go to the hospital to get your injuries treated."

Liz sighed, that was going to take hours. "Well I'm ready to give my statement, let's get this over with."

She heard Red chuckle lightly and she turned and mock-glared at him.

OOOOOOOO

Hours later found them returning home in the FBI private airplane. Red had three broken ribs and needed fifty stitches in his leg after they removed the bullet. They said he was lucky that it wasn't more serious and declared it a miracle that he could still walk.  
Liz had a broken cheekbone that wasn't going to need surgery and a broken foot with five broken toes. They didn't think that was going to require surgery either, but wanted to wait and re-examine it in the near future. She hated being on crutches, but the alternative was a wheelchair, and that just was not going to happen.

Red was asleep in the seat next to her, the pain pills making him dead to the world. Liz felt wired and figured it was probably because she was ready to be home. She stared at his face, and ran her finger over his furrowed eyebrows. He looked distressed even in sleep. She wished she knew why.

They had a lot to talk about, and she still needed to talk to Tom too. That was a conversation she wasn't looking forward to, but it was a necessary one if she wanted to be with Red. Which she did. She only hoped he felt the same.

She laid back and ran her hand over Red's arm, content in the knowledge that he loved her. She only hoped it was enough for what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there you have it. I've had so much fun writing this story. If there's enough interest, I'm willing to continue and explore what happens when they get home. Please comment and let me know. If there's not, then I'm perfectly happy with ending it here. I think it's a good place to end. Thank you so much for reading and for all the comments and kudos..I've been truly overwhelmed with the support and awesomeness of my fellow Blacklisters and Lizzington shippers. Until next time. :)


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